Demon Serpent — Heavenly Radiance-grade. Use Requirement: Level 50 Assassin-type class, Agility above 300. The most venomous and wicked weapon of the Lost Continent. Legend says it was cast from the innate venom of ten thousand deadly serpents; at the moment the Demon Serpent was forged, the poisonous vapor it released killed every craftsman who made it on the spot. Because it was too sinister and toxic, the greater part of its poison was sealed away by the power of the Lost Continent’s supreme deity. It was later obtained by Yuan Que, becoming the famed weapon with which he roamed the world unchallenged.
Attributes: Attack +800; Attack +18%; Agility +120; Hit +70; Constitution -40. On attack, 30% chance to inflict Poison, 10% chance to inflict Deadly Poison, 1% chance to inflict Fatal Venom. When the bearer’s poison resistance is below 50%, equipping it costs 100 HP per second.
Skill — Fatal Venom Sting: Gathers the Demon Serpent’s poison to deliver a deadly-poison strike to a single target. Damage equals attack power, with a 10% chance to inflict Fatal Venom; a poisoned target will lose 1,000 HP per second, and unless cured, it will not cease until death. Costs 110 MP. Cooldown 5 seconds.
Skill — Demon Serpent’s Venom Dance: The Demon Serpent’s poison comes from the innate venom of ten thousand deadly serpents. Once the Venom Dance is unleashed, it conjures countless serpent-shadows to launch deadly-poison attacks on all enemies within a 10-meter radius, lasting three seconds. Damage equals 300% of a normal attack, with a 100% chance to inflict Poison, 30% chance to inflict Deadly Poison, and 10% chance to inflict Fatal Venom. Costs 300 MP. Skill cooldown 30 minutes. For ten minutes after each use, the poison attacks attached to the Demon Serpent’s strikes are nullified.
Ye Tianxie: “!!!!”
The Demon Serpent! A Level 50… Heavenly Radiance item!
At this moment, even the ever-placid, easygoing Ye Tianxie felt his heart thumping wildly. If word got out that a Heavenly Radiance item existed in Novice Village No. 60001, one could well imagine the uncontainable sensation it would set off, and there was no telling how many people it would drive to the most irrational, frenzied acts. Indeed, even though its level requirement was 50, even though it was currently in an NPC’s hands, it simply shouldn’t have appeared at this stage.
What Ye Tianxie found even harder to accept was — “It was later obtained by Yuan Que, becoming the famed weapon with which he roamed the world unchallenged”… Oh, for crying out loud. Don’t tell me this scrawny, dried-up old man — the kind you’d need to post a missing-person notice for after one good gust of wind — really is the “expert” he claims to be?
And the Demon Serpent, a Heavenly Radiance item that could drive every player in the world out of their mind, was likewise one of Yuan Que’s wares for sale. Price: 100,000,000 gold.
One hundred million gold!
An out-and-out astronomical figure that would leave an ordinary person slack-jawed — but at that price… if a person obtained a Heavenly Radiance item, they could without question run rampant across the world. And this Demon Serpent’s astonishing attributes spelled that out in full. If an Assassin got hold of it, then setting aside how high its attack power was, its attached poison effects alone — the very high chance of Poison, the rarely-appearing Deadly Poison that was two to three times an ordinary poison, and the near-impossible Fatal Venom — meant that even if his attack power were 0, with the Demon Serpent in hand no one would dare cross blades with him lightly.
Heaven-defying items that permanently raised attributes, a strange key, and a Heavenly Radiance item that had even shaken his composure… Ye Tianxie’s gaze turned unfocused. Those sky-high prices, each more staggering than the last, were absolutely beyond what he — or any novice player — could afford. Though in truth, those staggering prices weren’t actually outrageous.
Yuan Que had been watching Ye Tianxie’s expression the whole time. His eyes narrowed to a thin slit, and staring at that dark, shifting look on his face, he asked out of nowhere, “Thinking about killing and looting?”
“Mm… uh! No.” Ye Tianxie nodded, then hurriedly shook his head, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his forehead. He had, in fact, been very seriously considering whether to cleave this old man in two with one stroke, then take everything in his hands, pack it up, and walk…
And then he’d be invincible under heaven… among players, of course.
But at the thought that this old man could wield the Demon Serpent, could gather so many “world-shaking treasures” that ordinary folk would never even lay eyes on… Fine. However unwilling he was, he had to admit this really ought to be an expert.
“You, kid…” Yuan Que’s face went pitch-black, his beard practically bristling. “Bro was originally going to give you one of each of these attribute-raising items for free… Now, not a chance! For the sake of that Hero’s Badge of yours, buy quick if you want something — and if you’ve no money, then scram while you’re at it!”
Buy… buy your sister! In a novice village so poor it rattles, anyone who can produce 100 gold is a super-tycoon; producing hundreds of thousands or millions is a pipe dream and a load of nonsense. And that Demon Serpent… selling off every last player in Novice Village No. 60001 probably wouldn’t cover it.
“Say, Bro Que,” Ye Tianxie composed his expression and said, his face the very picture of harmlessness, “look at all these ‘world-shaking treasures’ you’ve got and don’t use yourself. I imagine you know you’ll be staying here from now on, unable to get out, with nowhere to put your talents to use. Now that the Hour of Fate has vanished, the Lost Continent faces a disaster stirring and ready to strike at any moment. You really ought to bestow these on a hero who can stand against the calamity to come…”
“A hero? Heh heh heh heh — don’t tell me you’re talking about yourself, kid?” Yuan Que rolled his eyes, his face full of scorn.
Ye Tianxie said with perfect composure, “That’s what the village chief said.”
“Dragging that old man the chief into it won’t help you either. He may have done Bro a kindness, but that’s a matter between us… Bro’s going to loaf about here in this novice village, eating and drinking and waiting to die, and won’t leave for the rest of his life. What the hell does the Lost Continent living or dying have to do with Bro? You want Bro’s things — bring money! Not one coin less… Then again, if it weren’t for that old man the chief, do you think Bro would sell these things to you at all?”
Ye Tianxie stared hard at the things in that box, committing their attributes to memory, then gritted his teeth, turned, and left the item shop. Only after he’d gone did Yuan Que unhurriedly put everything away and go back to sitting there with his eyes closed, playing dead.
“Snob, miser, skinflint, Grandet…” Walking out of the item shop, Ye Tianxie cursed the dried-up old man viciously in his heart, then turned his head and asked, “Guoguo, do you have any way to snatch those things away from that old man?”
Guoguo, who was taking great bites out of an apple, lifted her little head out of it, her face covered in juice, and answered indistinctly through puffed-out cheeks, “Master… mm-mm, that old grandpa is really something. Even a thousand of master couldn’t beat him… mm-mm.”
Ye Tianxie rubbed his brow with a face full of gloom, then suddenly asked, “How do you know he’s so formidable? Have you seen him before?”
Guoguo’s apple-eating stopped. She blinked and said in a small voice, her face all innocence, “Huh? Why would I know… why…”
Ye Tianxie: “@#$%…”
(End of Chapter 52)