Chapter 521: Old Driver, Bring Me with You
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
"You mean leaping into the air can help us dodge the eruption of the chilly energy in our bodies?!"
But the chilly energy is stored in the body; what does leap up have to do with its eruption?!
Sia and other warriors of the Ultimate West Realm found it hard to believe.
"The zombie king uses the gloomy and moist energy in the ground to spread the chilly energy; that is easy to understand. If the curse of chilly energy in the body also has to be activated by the energy in the ground..." After passing the King Difficulty Level, Nalan Mingxue had obtained many experience points and finished the mission for advancing to her subclass. While finished the mission in satisfaction, she explained, "Don't you see the connection now?"
"Then, why does it activate the eruption at a regular interval?" a warrior of the Ultimate West Realm asked in disbelief, "If the zombie king activates it randomly, no one can predict it, right?"
"It's because you don't know auras," Nalan Mingxue said, "In Diablo 2, the auras are all activated automatically if it's not purposefully controlled. As an undead creature, the zombie king doesn't have a high level of intelligence, which is why it can't control this effect."
It was an automatic activation mechanism similar to an aura. As long as the players discovered its activation rhythm, they could dodge it perfectly,
Nalan Mingxue glanced at Mr. Fang and asked, "I wonder how much of that I got right."
Mr. Fang applauded and said, "100 percent! 100 percent!"
They complimented each other happily.
"When you have time, will you tell us more about King's Avatar?!" Nalan Mingxue asked.
Now that Mr. Fang had used Vanishing Steps, who knew if he would talk about other even more advanced skills in the future.
Skills weren't combat techniques which must be used with warrior qi or spiritual spells that must be cast with spiritual essence.
They were combat skills that needed little energy and required simple criteria, but they could unleash great power.
Vanishing Step was a skill of controlling one's steps to make sure that they remained outside the opponent's vision, which could prevent the opponent from counterattacking.
However, achieving the effect of Vanishing Step in the virtual reality game was more difficult than finding the right positions.
One must also consider the angles of the sword strikes, the steps on positioning, and the force used in each attack. Fang Qi's opponent was a monster that was as powerful as a real zombie king, not a lame monster in the original game before he traveled through space and time. In the original version, the zombie king's speed had been slowed down in consideration of the slower reflexes of ordinary people.
For ordinary people, the zombie king in the current version of the game was a monster that moved as swift as the wind. However, a level 20 slayer had far surpassed the abilities of an ordinary person as well.
While battling, Fang Qi must leap up to dodge the activation of the chilly energy in his body.
To achieve this, Fang Qi had to rely on things such as the skills from the sliding steps of Drive Slash, Immortal Wind Cloud Body, and Drunk Immortal Moon-Observing Step, the blade master's profound understanding of sword techniques, and the powerful greatsword technique from Cloud. On top of all that, he was more familiar with this game compared to others, and he was barely able to use concepts such as Vanishing Step to attack the zombie king and use combos.
The result was amazing.
Many people looked at Mr. Fang in a daze, wishing that they could also use these fancy and effective skills that they didn't know!
"As for that..." Mr. Fang scratched his head at the request of telling them the later plot of the King's Avatar. "I'll consider it when I have time."
Hearing Nalan Mingxue's analysis, Sia fell silent.
"Is it really what she said...?" Sia blinked. "Can we avoid the zombie king's freezing energy so easily?!"
Of course, to master these skills later on, she had died countless times in the Shadow Thunderland and spent many crystals to buy life tokens. But it was another story.
"Sir!" Su Tianji walked over. "Can you take me through the dungeon, so I can advance to a subclass?!" She played a female mage.
It would be much easier if she chose to play as a female slayer or a female fighter. After all, all the players had learned sword techniques and fist techniques in the real world.
However, mages were different, even though the cultivators and mages both used lightning and fire, and the effects looked almost the same.
However, spiritual spells and magic spells had different incantations, hand gestures, and ways of circulating spiritual essence and MP.
The mages needed some time to adapt to the new system.
It was why Su Tianji had become an idol player and a newbie from the captain of the team which had won the second place in the Counter Strike Competition.
She had died several times on Expert Difficulty, let alone the Master Difficulty Level!
It wasn't only Su Tianji. Many other cultivators who played as mages had the same problem, and they were eager for a free ride.
"Sir! Take me too!"
"Old driver, take me with you!"
"Me! Me! Me! Me too!" Tang Yu dashed over as well. As a cultivator who had played with guns only in StarCraft, his performance as a male gunner was very poor.
"Can you take me too?!" Gu Tingyu was in an embarrassing situation as well. He had chosen the class of priest which looked similar to cultivators. However, after he entered the game, he found that his weapon was a big cross. Except for some spells, he had to fight at close-range.
Caught between close-range and long-range, he felt like this class was more difficult to play than mages.
"Alright..." The moment he said it, Mr. Fang glanced at his fatigue points and shrugged. "I ran out of fatigue points."
"Fatigue points?!" The players looked at Mr. Fang in puzzlement.
The fatigue points determined if the players could enter a dungeon.
Although the new version didn't have the settings for rooms, it retained the setting of fatigue points which was consumed according to the exploration range in the dungeons. If the players used all the fatigue points, they couldn't enter dungeons again on the same day.
Having leveled to over level 20, Mr. Fang had run out of his fatigue points.
By now, Fang Qi had only played a little more than three hours.
In other words, the players only needed about three to four hours to level up and hunt for treasures in the dungeons each day, and they could use the remaining time to do other missions. If they were fast, three hours was enough.
Of course, if the players tried to pass the King Difficulty Level without the necessary levels and equipment, eight hours each day wouldn't be enough for them.
Hearing his explanation, all the players were alarmed. "What? The game has such a setting?!"
Luo Piaoling said, "I spent a long time exploring the dungeon of King Difficulty Level and didn't pass it; it's just a waste of time and energy then?!"
He felt frustrated. He had thought that he could continue his exploration after being 'tricked' by his teammates, but now he learned that there was a limit on it!
"Ahh!" He howled silently.
"What should we do now?!" Su Tianji found that she still had many fatigue points left. How come Mr. Fang is already out of it?
Mr. Fang pointed at Jiang Xiaoyue and said, "You can ask Xiaoyue if she has fatigue points left."
"Xiaoyue can take us too?!"
Sitting next to Mr. Fang, the loli was concentrating on her female mage character.
This mage... was actually in close-range combat?!
"Xiaoyue! Take me with you!"
"Xiaoyue, I'm your good friend. Can you take me first?"
"I have gold coins!"
"The market price is 10,000 gold coins! Take me!"
They all came up to her.
Jiang Xiaoyue asked, "Ugh? What's happening?"
Chapter 522: How Come People of This Subclass Are Blind?!
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
After watching Mr. Fang pass the Shadow Thunderland at King Difficulty Level, many players had picked up a few things that they could use to try to pass the dungeons at a high difficulty level, and they were eager to try.
Due to the limited fatigue points, the players acted more cautious now and wouldn't dare to challenge the dungeons that were too difficult for their levels.
The system version of Dungeon Fighter Online had five primary classes and 40 subclasses at this moment.
Each primary class had four subclasses, and males and females had different systems. For example, the male slayers' demon-like hands turned red because of the Kazan syndrome, but for the female slayers, their demon-like hand turned red because of the Metastasis.
They were fundamentally different.
After advancing to their subclasses, the differences between males and females were even greater. Male slayers could advance to Blade Masters, Berserkers, Asuras, and Soul Benders. Female slayers, on the other hand, could advance to Sword Masters, Demon Slayers, Vagabonds, and Dark Templars.
Both excelling in sword techniques, Blade Masters and Sword Masters wielded different basic sword techniques. Blade Masters used the Secret Sword Art while Sword Master used Imperial Swordsmanship.
Imperial Swordsmanship was a set of ultimate sword techniques inherited from an unknown source in the ancient times. It was said that they were created by a sword god who combined many kinds of sword techniques and combat techniques. This set of sword techniques was focused on fast sword strikes and contained horrid, destructive power.
From the initiation method, it was similar to Vergil's Dimension Slash when he pulled out his saber.
...
After the advancement to their subclasses, the players of the same primary class would follow completely different paths.
"Senior sister, what subclass do you plan to choose?" On the side, Mu Qing and Yue Bai whispered to each other.
"I'll... choose Sword Master..."
On the other side, Yuanyang Castellan Zong Wu looked at Nalan Hongwu who sat next to him and asked, "Brother Nalan, what subclass will you choose?"
"Hahaha! Of course, Blade Master!" Nalan Hongwu looked at his young game character in the computer and asked, "How about you, Brother?"
"My Martial Dao comes from the Heavenly Academy, and my style is a bit different from that of the Blade Master." Zong Wu shook his head and said, "I've studied each subclass and found that my style is closer to the subclass of Asura. I'd try that."
"Come on! Let's team up and enter the Shadow Thunderland at Master Difficulty Level!"
"Count me in! Count me in!" Su Tianji immediately joined them.
"Me too!" An Huwei dashed over to take the ride.
As mages, they hadn't gotten used to the new system yet, and it was painful to team up with strangers.
As for Jiang Xiaoyue...
When Mr. Fang used up his fatigue points, Jiang Xiaoyue was on her last trip in the dungeon.
Running out of fatigue points didn't mean that the players could do nothing in the game.
As mentioned before, in the huge city of Hendon Myre, there were all kinds of people doing all kinds of things, and they provided players with many types of missions that didn't require them to enter the dungeons.
They could obtain all kinds of rewards such as reputation, gold coins, and even items when they finished these missions.
Of course, if the players were not interested in these missions, they could go to Pungjin's dojo to battle with adventurers from all over the world.
If someone wasn't interested in all that, they could do what Mr. Fang was doing. Right now, Mr. Fang exited to the Character-Selection Interface, creating more characters in the Adventure Guild. He created another male slayer with the ID 'Red Duke', a third slayer with the ID 'Black Noble', and a fourth slayer with the ID 'Sewer'.
Then, he created two accounts, one fighter and one gunner, and entered the game.
Most of the games in the shop didn't allow players to create small accounts. However, in Dungeon Fighter Online, one could create as many characters as allowed in an adventure guild.
[TL Note: In China, all accounts aside from a player's main account in online games were referred to as 'small accounts'.]
Of course, having enough time to play all these classes was another story.
While Mr. Fang played on his small accounts, Nalan Hongwu and other players of Dajin of the Deserted Sea Realm had also advanced to their subclasses one after another.
For example, Nalan Hongwu had advanced to be a proud blade master.
Zong Wu realized his dream of becoming an asura.
An Huwei advanced to the glacial master subclass under the male mage class.
In terms of other subclasses, except for Swift Master, he couldn't understand Blood Mage and Dimension Walker.
They glanced at Su Tianji's screen and asked, "Witch?! What's this?"
"Ugh..." Su Tianji said, "I'm not sure. It seems to be some technology in the magic world? It sounds powerful."
The world in Dungeon Fighter Online was a place with a perfect combination of magic and technology. In this world, there was a complete magic technology system which was completely different from the regular technology system.
It was a combination of magic and technology.
The products that this system developed looked like the new communication jade that the cultivators of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance had made with spiritual spells and arrays, different from a smartphone but had the various functions of a smartphone.
The background of this world was different from the worlds described in other games. Due to some reason related to the origin of Pandemonium, Pandemonium controlled powerful technology, and witches were the mages who studied this subject.
Although she didn't quite understand this subclass, she chose this special path since she didn't like fighting.
"Should we venture into the dungeon again? I want to try my new skills!"
"Good! I want to try my skills too!" At this moment, they saw a guy walking over to the cross where they stood, stumbling around with a long saber which looked like a bamboo stick as he poked it around to the left and right.
"Auch!" With a scream, Zong Wu fell flat on the ground in the street of Hendon Myre, attracting the attention of many players and pedestrians.
"..."
"I say, Old Ghost Zong, what's going on with you?!" Nalan Hongwu asked as his face twitched.
Zong Wu lifted his head, and everyone saw that he had a black band on his eyes.
"How come people of this subclass are blind?!" Zong Wu howled. "That god-damn trainer asked me if I was truly determined to advance to this subclass... I didn't know that he meant this! Before I could react, he turned me blind! He told me to see with my ears and slash with my heart! But how can I slash without seeing the enemies?!"
With a dark face, he got up and said, "Let's go and level up!"
The others fell silent. They suddenly didn't want to team up with him!
Chapter 523: The Place Where the Dreams Begin
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
"Where are we going?" Zong Wu asked.
"Old Ghost Zong, can you enter the dungeon like this?" Nalan Hongwu's face darkened, wondering how the latter could kill monsters without his sight.
"To tell you the truth," Zong Wu said, "Although I lost my sight, I learned a technique named Hostility Detection from the trainer. With the experience that I've accumulated in the many years of studying Martial Dao, I can detect enemies by hearing. The monsters pose no issue to me!"
"Are you sure...?" Nalan Hongwu looked at him doubtfully.
"How do you think I walked here from the Back Alley all by myself?!" Zong Wu said in anger.
"It's fine." Su Tianji said, "We don't have to go to the Shadow Thunderland which has a high difficulty level; we can try another dungeon which is less difficult."
"Right!" An Huwei said, "Anyway, we've finished almost all the missions in Hendon Myre. We can go and check out West Coast."
The dungeons in the Sky Tower at West Coast were generally more difficult than Grand Flores, but since it was their first time entering, they could only choose the Normal Difficulty Level, which wouldn't be too hard for them.
"Let's do it then." Nalan Hongwu agreed after a moment of consideration. He had heard of the legends about the Sky Tower and wanted to see it.
Although they were much older than the players of the younger generation, they were newbies in this world; everything was new and novel to them, let alone the Sky Tower in the legends.
According to the legends, the Sky Tower was the only path leading to Empyrean.
West Coast was a port city not far from Hendon Myre, and it was in the territory of Bel Myre Principality. It had advanced on-land and sea routes, and it was a busy city of commerce and trade. Also, it was an important location since it had the Sky Tower, the entrance to Empyrean.
It was the second-largest city in Arad, only smaller than Hendon Myre.
In the original game, West Coast was next to Hendon Myre on the right. However, if the players wanted to go to West Coast from this huge city, they had three traveling options: horse carriages, zeppelin, and teleportation.
Since the travel time between the two cities wasn't as short as that in the original game (The newbies couldn't afford teleportation), the missions that required traveling between the two cities had been adjusted accordingly.
As mentioned before, the Arad Continent had a prosperous magic civilization.
Hendon Myre and West Coast were two prominent cities born in this civilization. According to the legends, Hendon Myre had been created in the desert by the powerful magic arrays of a great mage named Myre.
That was why high-end magic products such as magic zeppelins and teleportation arrays weren't novel to the residents in these cities.
Not only Nalan Hongwu and his teammates, but many players who finished advancing to their subclasses boarded a zeppelin and flew toward the next city.
Flying on the magic zeppelin, they looked down and saw that the blue sea was almost the same color as the sky. The clear surface of the ocean sparkled with the reflections of white clouds in the sky. Big and small ships and boats passed or docked in the harbor.
Looking down from the high sky, they saw a huge garden-style park in the center of the city. The orderly residential houses with white walls and red tiles spread out like fans. Outside the residential area was green forests that had dense plants, surrounding the garden-like city. In the distance, clouds floated around the rolling hills, and everything looked beautiful.
While Hendon Myre was a bustling and prosperous city, West Coast was a charming port city which was both lively and tranquil.
Hendon Myre was the starting point for the adventurers on this land.
West Coast was the true starting place for their subclasses.
"Wow-!"
"This city is so pretty!"
Sitting on the zeppelin, Mu Qing and Yue Bai looked down at the city beneath them, finding that the style of the city was different from that of a cultivator-populated city; it was quite refreshing.
Some warriors of the Ultimate West Realm had also come to the sky above the city in the zeppelin.
With its balmy and fresh air, the beautiful port city surrounded by hills on three sides looked like a dazzling pearl inlaid in a green forest.
"This city will make few people want to leave..." Luo Piaoling sighed.
The cities in the Ultimate West Realm were all built on the peaks on cliffs covered by ice and snow. Although they used arrays to adjust the temperatures in the cities, they could only see white snow swept by howling gales, representing death and destruction.
It was said that many cities in the Ultimate West Realm were built by their ancestors with blood and bones while they gradually drove away powerful fierce beasts in the severe cold.
"I'll be frank with you since we're from the same place. I wonder why the cultivators of the Spiritual State and even the Deserted Sea Realm are so fortunate and have so many powerful figures." Sia sounded jealous as she said, "They are living in such comfortable places and have such powerful combat techniques and sword techniques. On top of that, they are even better at playing games than us... For example, I don't know how they thought of such a battle skill as the Vanishing Steps..."
Luo Piaoling's face twitched. "Didn't you say that it was an insignificant, low-level combat technique?"
"Hahahahaha..." He laughed with sudden understanding. "I didn't know that Ms. Sia would be so stubborn!"
"I'm not stubborn!" Sia mumbled, "I just wonder why they are so powerful!"
Luo Piaoling pretended to sniff the air. "Ugh? I smell some sourness and jealousy in the air."
"You-!"
"Okay! I won't tease you." Carrying his heavy sword in his arms, Luo Piaoling said with a smile and a shake of his head. "We still have some time before we can get off the zeppelin. We must use the time on the zeppelin to enjoy the beautiful scenery of this city."
He sighed and said with some envy, "It would be wonderful if we and our descendants can one day live in such a beautiful city..."
"You seem to like this place?" Sia asked tentatively.
"Yeah... look at the houses and people. They seem to share our traditions and style, and I won't feel like a stranger living in such a city." He shook his head, and his smile under his blond curls looked bright and warm. "We never saw oceans living in the snow mountains in the Ultimate West Realm. But here, we can gaze at the magnificent ocean all day long."
"It sounds wonderful." Sia frowned when a thought struck her. Then, she asked teasingly, "Do you like this place that much? What if some people want to destroy this place one day?"
Luo Piaoling tightened his grip on his sword and said with a faint smile, "If that day comes, I'll kill anyone who dares to do that even at the price of my life!"
Then, he shook his head and chuckled. "But it's only a virtual world. How can anyone destroy it? You think too much."
With that said, he continued to quietly enjoy the lovely scenery beneath the zeppelin.
Chapter 524: Leveling Up in Clumsiness
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations*
At this moment, Nalan Hongwu, Su Tianji, and the others finally entered the legendary Sky Tower, the miraculous portal leading from Arad to Empyrean.
Looking at the column-shaped tower leading to the sky, all the cultivators and warriors exclaimed and were amazed by this magical building.
It hadn't originally existed at West Coast; it had only existed in legends, and few people had seen it.
However, some time before the adventurers arrived at West Coast, it had suddenly appeared here.
There were many strange life forms such as cold and strange statues and enormous stone giants that could fly. In the pitch-black darkness, there were even many knight stone statues that would come back to life at any time and attack anyone who entered the tower.
This grand building was fraught with many weird things.
The Sky Tower was also a dungeon. Soon, Nalan Hongwu, the leader of the team, chose to enter Dragonoid Nest.
Since the magic power in the Sky Tower had effects on all life forms, the dragons had evolved into dragonoids! The dragonoids lived for the sole purpose of guarding their territory and blocking any adventurers.
This was the first stop in the Sky Tower.
This tower was magnificent. If the players walked inside, they would find that the interior space was even bigger than what it looked like from the outside.
They walked up along the steps. Suddenly, a big flock of creatures flew toward them.
"Watch my Ice Orb!" After condensing magic energy in his palm, An Huwei launched the ice spell, shooting out a basketball-sized magic orb of ice and water.
When the Ice Orb crashed into the herd of monsters, it instantly exploded into ice pallets and water splashes, sending these monsters flying in all directions.
At a closer look, they saw that the monsters were baby dragons which looked quite similar to the horned dragons of the Ultimate West Realm. Including their wings, they were as big as basins.
"How was it? My Ice Orb wasn't bad, eh?" An Huwei laughed at this effect.
His mage character had good skills amongst all mages since he had played as a sorcerer in Diablo 2.
Before his laughter naturally came to an end, a dark yellow shadow lunged at him from behind swiftly with whistling noises.
"Ground Quaker! Wave Sword!" With quick reflexes, Zong Wu detected the attacker's position with his ears and swung his short sword, shooting out a dark-yellow sword light along the wall of the staircase!
The force sent the attacking figure flying.
"Ugh?!" Nalan Hongwu looked back and said in surprise, "Good aim!"
"Hahaha!" Zu Wu was feeling smug. "I'm still adapting, but my sense for hostility is more useful than eyes in some aspect. For example, I sensed many monsters lurking on the floor above us, ready to sneak-attack!"
"You're so powerful?!" Su Tianji said in surprise.
"Of course! I've never felt so sensitive to the movements around me. If I can master this skill, I think no one can sneak-attack me," Zong Wu laughed and said, "Although I'm blind, I feel like I'm stronger!"
"That is possible?!" Nalan Hongwu looked at Zong Wu in a daze.
"Of course!" Zong Wu said confidently.
"Let's go! After we defeat this boss, we'll go and challenge a higher difficulty level!"
"Ugh?!" Zong Wu's face turned grim. "Be careful! The murderous intent is getting close!"
Nalan Hongwu looked back and saw the dragonoid, who was sent flying, lunging toward them again!
Nalan Hongwu held his sword before him horizontally.
Tink! He blocked the attack steadily.
It was a beautiful parry!
"Hahahaha" He was about to boast when a pitch-black sword light hacked toward him like a lightning flash.
"Ghost Orb!"
Nalan Hongwu looked at the Ghost Orb crashing toward him in a daze.
"!!??"
"Hahahaha!" Zong Wu laughed and said, "What do you think of this Ghost Orb of mine? Did I just save you guys again?"
"Old Ghost Nalan, what do you think?!"
"Old Ghost Nalan?"
"Where's Old Ghost Nalan?"
The other two teammates looked at him dumbfoundedly.
Nalan Hongwu had only one thought in his mind right now, "Never team up with people who are blind!"
It was impossible to carry them!
...
Meanwhile, Song Qingfeng and the others were also leveling up in the dungeons.
At the Puppet Museum, Lin Shao used the dizzying Secret Sword Art. "Am I dashing? Young Master Song, look at how dashing I am!"
The lightsabre wildly danced in his hands.
Suddenly, a pale grey puppet shot toward them.
"My striker character is dashing, alright!" Song Qingfeng kicked viciously. Then, he took out a brick and aimed it toward the stone puppet. "F*ck off!"
Snap!
The figure who had been waving the lightsabre instantly dropped to the ground.
"Your aim is trash!"
In the past, the male fighters on the Arad Continent had not been strong since Martial God Shannon Myer never accepted male disciples.
As time went by, female fighters had become the mainstream on the Arad Continent.
Without opportunities to learn fighting skills, the male fighters didn't give up. Instead, they had gradually created many new styles.
It was why the male fighters and female fighters could be treated as totally different classes in Dungeon Fighter Online.
In the world where Fang Qi lived in right now, these two classes could be viewed as two factions. They were both fighters sharing some basic knowledge, but they were different in many core areas.
For example, female fighters mainly fought with fists. In contrast, Song Qingfeng had been using kicks all this time. Except for the fist techniques that he had learned in the real world, he almost never punched out with his fists.
"Ugh... It's not enough to only fight with my legs..." Song Qingfeng looked embarrassed.
...
Most players were now leveling up clumsily with their skills that were new and unfamiliar.
Their enthusiasm drew the attention of many other players, and these people decided to try this new game as well.
The whole internet café looked livelier than usual.
"Hu..." Having played three characters in one day, Mr. Fang was extremely tired. When midnight came, he had just used up the fatigue points of the third character.
Lounging in his computer chair, he saw that most of the customers had gone, and he stretched his body by force.
He hadn't had this feeling in a long time.
Looking at his accounts, Fang Qi shook his head and chuckled.
On the morning of the next day, many people had gotten up early as if they were driven by some force in their minds.
Most of them had reached level 20 yesterday and had learned some complicated and fancy skills of their subclasses, such as the Secret Sword Art.
However, these were not enough for them.
It was just the beginning.