MMORPG: The Elementalist

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lycan Barrage:

Tier 4 Magic Skill

Consumes 10 MP

Condenses into a water wolf skull with 40 Magic Attack

A player possessing Master Rank Aquamancer Technique can continuously condense Lycan Barrage to build up Attack

Depletes 2 MP per second

***

When Qin Ruo saw the worn-out magic Magic Skill Book in the Trade Menu, his heart involuntarily beat faster. Fixing his sight on the book, Qin Ruo's eyes beamed with an enormous desire—after all, it was a continuous Aquamancer offensive magic skill! This was plain good stuff!

Even though "Lycan Barrage" did not have the Attribute Effects of an Aquamancer's Magic, but as a Tier 4 Skill, it already had 40 Magic Attack at Novice Rank, which was five points higher than that of Snow Eagle Dive. Besides, its continuous attack feature would save the user a lot of troubles in battle as it canceled the need to recondense the Element.

In exchange for the Attribute Effect, the skill was greatly enhanced in terms of its attacking power as well as its frequency! Moreover, according to the narration, Qin Ruo deduced that the term "Master Rank Aquamancer" most probably meant that the skill required a strong understanding of the fundamentals of Water Elementalism. Also, it should be similar to the Snow Eagle Dive, whereby it was a flexible and convenient offensive spell, which could be controlled freely based on one's will.

Thinking as such, Qin Ruo was more eager than ever to get the deal done…

A Tier 4 magic skill, which could be used continuously and manipulated at will meant that it could be used to attack any body part of the monster persistently. Its usefulness as a type of offensive spell was apparently better than Snow Eagle Dive. No wonder it was listed as a collectible by Demigod Champion players. This spell was indeed very practical and desirable.

Furthermore, the price listed for the Lycan Barrage was not that high as well…

Only 2,000 Redemption Points!

Qin Ruo had 600 points and thirteen pieces of Soulblood with him at the moment. He would be able to buy the Grimoire once he obtained another Soulblood.

He got excited thinking about the map filled with enormous red dots, which he held in his hand. With the map, getting another Soulblood was just a matter of time!

If it were not because of Isabelle not accepting Soulblood as currency, Qin Ruo would have immediately rushed out and overturned all nearby Bloodthirsty Trees to make up for the lacking points and buy the Magic Skill Book already. He simply could not resist the temptation of getting a hidden offensive magic skill specifically designed for an Aquamancer!

Qin Ruo looked through other collectibles in Isabelle's Trade Menu and did not find anything he needed other than "Special Roasted Snails".

After he scanned through the menu for one last time, Qin Ruo was ready to make a trip back to Mikel's hut!

However, Qin Ruo quickly changed his mind. The route back to Mikel's from Isabelle's place required a two-hour walk at the very least. In addition, those Bloodthirsty Trees along the way had mostly been visited and drained dry by him.

Qin Ruo was agonized by the fact that he was more like a slaving gatherer at the Graveyard of the Gods rather than an Aquamancer. He frowned and summoned the map to look for the other blue spots around Isabelle. His mood was only dampened further! Based on the map's scale, the journey to the nearest blue spot from Isabelle would take at least four to five hours!

Qin Ruo initially planned to pay a visit to all the Lost Merchants in the Great Tree Forest, then pick the one collectible that was most useful and most beneficial to him among them. However, judging from the current situation, it seemed rather impossible to do so. This was because, walking from the third blue dot to Mikel's hut would take a day's time, while Qin Ruo's time in the Graveyard of the Gods was only a mere three-day period in conjunction with the ongoing event…

There was simply too little time!

Qin Ruo sighed and hesitated. Finally, he decided to go offline first and fill his stomach before he thought about his next step. At the same time, he had to give Xiaoxiao a call and see how she was doing outside the Graveyard.

But before that…

"White Wine, where are the both of you at right now?" Qin Ruo asked through the Party Channel.

"Ah! Wait!"

Emma shouted out of surprise…

Then, after a minute had passed, the sound of both White Wine and Emma's breathing were heard again through the Party Channel.

"You've really got wonderful timing, right when we're breaking through the second underground level… What's wrong?"

"Hell yeah, we were almost done for. But we're fine now, Brother Qin. What's up?" Emma, still traumatized, asked as she breathed in and out loudly.

Qin Ruo was moved by their replies.

"You two have entered the second level?"

"Yup, we just arrived! The environment here seems to be far more dangerous than the Great Tree Forest. I guess it's better for me to go offline and gather intel. Or else, it'll be quite embarrassing to die in there."

White Wine's words reminded Qin Ruo. He quickly continued, "You're going offline too? Great! I just wanted to inform you two that I'll do that and have some dinner. All the best to the both of you."

"Okay! You take good care of yourself too. Earn more points today and exchange it for better equipment. Or else, you won't be able to earn much after the peak period," White Wine reminded Qin Ruo.

"Alright! Thanks for reminding me. I'm going off now."

"Goodbye!"

The three of them disbanded.

***

It was 11.00 pm when Qin Ruo exited the game next to Isabelle. He took some digestive biscuits in front of his computer and turned off some meaningless threads before he made a call to Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao was still in the game when Qin Ruo called. She instinctively knew that the incoming call had to be from Qin Ruo and immediately checked Qin Ruo's current status through the search system.

His wanted status had been removed!

Current level was still 41!

Xiaoxiao felt relieved and quickly went offline.

"Ruo, how's everything there?"

"Not too bad. Xiaoxiao, did Brother Slayer and the others turn up?"

"They did."

Xiaoxiao told Qin Ruo that after his red tag was lifted, both Slayer's Heart as well as Violet Orchid came out of the graveyard once and left her a message. She was asked to inform Qin Ruo to immediately go and wait for them in Savis Town when he came out. They even left her with their personal contact numbers.

After that, Xiaoxiao also reminded him that the day before the Graveyard of the Gods was opened, the equipment put up by Slayer's Heart in Bauhinia League had found their respective buyers. All of them were exchanged with Aquamancer equipment, and one of it was even of a Dark Gold tier. His armor and boots were both Gold tier too. They were all ready for him to put on once his red tag was removed.

Qin Ruo was excited to learn about the Dark Gold equipment as well as the Gold-tier boots and armor. Once he put them on, his strength would certainly be boosted by a great margin. This would greatly help his survivability in the Graveyard of the Gods!

Unfortunately, he could not teleport back to the town just yet, so he could not retrieve the equipment from his vault. This was because, once he teleported back to town, he was not sure if he would be sent back into the Great Tree Forest again. If that did not happen, he would miss the opportunity to get points from Mikel in exchange for his Soulblood on the Emerald Plain. This (and the Lycan Barrage) was a one in a million catch, which he was not willing to let go no matter what.

To put an end to Xiaoxiao's doubt, Qin Ruo told her about all the incidents he had experienced in the Graveyard of the Gods so far.

"Lost Merchants? They even sell Divinity?"

Xiaoxiao was naturally a little surprised by the hidden news that Qin Ruo unraveled, especially when she heard about the Lycan Barrage Grimoire, which was available in one of the Lost Merchants' hand. She was growing more fascinated by the Graveyard of the Gods and wished to go there personally one day!

"Oh right, have you completed the Advancement Quest, Xiaoxiao?"

"Not yet. I want to hone my Element Manipulation more. I'll take the Advancement Quest the next time the Graveyard of the Gods opens again. Perhaps then, like you, I might be offered the more difficult hidden selective Advancement Quest."

Xiaoxiao's idea rendered Qin Ruo speechless. Other players would usually push for advancement as soon as they reached a bottleneck at Level 39. This girl refused to take the Advancement Quest when the Mastery Points for her Tier 2 and Tier 3 skills were already maxed. She would rather hide honestly in the Snow Domain and hone her already excellent Element Manipulation techniques.

That was silly!

However, on second thought, once she passed the Advancement Quest with seven optional difficulties like himself, she would also be granted a Gold Equipment of the highest grade like the Frostsoul Necklace, which he owned. Hence, Qin Ruo chose not to dwell on the matter. Besides, since Xiaoxiao was still relatively new in the game, it was also good for her to further shape her fundamental techniques.

"Alright! Xiaoxiao, I'll go back into the game first. I need to hurry and stay up all night to collect Soulblood. After the first day, there will be far fewer players on the first level, which means the Bloodthirsty Trees won't produce the Soulblood as effectively as today… Please help me call Brother Slayer and Sister Violet. Tell them that I'm fine here and I'll go back to the town once the number of Soulblood drop tremendously. I'll contact them by then."

"Ah! Wait…"

Xiaoxiao's voice halted Qin Ruo for a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Ruo, I don't quite get it. You said there aren't a lot of Soulblood? But since you can exchange points with Great Tree Sap from the Lost Merchants, why not use the Sap to nurture the maturation of a Bloodthirsty Tree instead, then collect the Soulblood from it repetitively? Isn't that more efficient than looking for it all around the place?"

Qin Ruo was deeply amazed by Xiaoxiao's suggestion!

Xiaoxiao's voice got more and more excited after that. She continued, "It so happens that your Aquamorph can dodge the Bloodthirsty Tree's direct attack, right? If you use the Great Tree Sap and couple it with Heal, you'd be able to create a Soulblood by yourself after several intervals of rest, wouldn't you?

"…"

On the other side, the hand Qin Ruo was holding the phone with began to shake, and it shook quite vigorously!