“Ding… You have received the mount ‘Blood-Sweating Steed,’ a gift from the City of Heaven’s Stars’ mount shop proprietor. It now resides in your mount space, and you may summon it to ride at any time.”
The prompt in his ears roused Ye Tianxie from his enormous astonishment. He hurriedly composed himself and said to the proprietor, “It will be a great help to me. Thank you for your gift.”
“Heh heh, I’m honored to hear you say so.” The mount shop proprietor smiled mildly.
Every player possessed a mount space that could hold ten mounts, though only one could be summoned to ride at a time. Mounts were a player’s means of travel, and could not be harmed while being ridden. Likewise, in the early game, the only classes able to fight from horseback were the Warrior and the Guardian; Archers, Assassins, Mages, Priests, and Summoners could not. Only after surpassing Level 30 and learning the relevant skill would they gain the ability to fight while mounted — the Archer’s “Mounted Archery,” for instance.
Mounts themselves generally possessed no offensive capability, at least not any sold in the City of Heaven’s Stars’ shops. But mounts, too, were divided into ranks, running from weak to strong: first through fifth rank, then Immortal Spirit rank, Heavenly Radiance rank, Divine Mystery rank, and Holy Annihilation rank. The mount shop happened to sell first through fourth rank mounts, those a player could relatively easily come by. From the fifth rank onward, mounts began to possess other supporting effects, even a degree of offensive capability, and could assist their masters in battle — but fifth-rank mounts and above were extraordinarily difficult to obtain, far beyond what an ordinary player could hope for. A fourth-rank Blood-Sweating Steed already cost thirty thousand gold; one can imagine how precious a fifth-rank mount would be.
Mounts could be ridden within the city as well — but if Ye Tianxie were to summon and mount a thirty-thousand-gold Blood-Sweating Steed right now, he would without question draw countless eyes. He hesitated, and in the end left the city on foot.
South of the City of Heaven’s Stars stretched a vast plain whose edge could not be seen: the Windfall Plains. Relatively weak creatures roamed here. And at this moment, as far as the eye could see, the view was filled with players. Right now, even the highest-leveled players still had not passed Level 11, and the Level 10 to 12 monsters here were without question the finest leveling ground available — add the city lord’s quest to hunt Lightning Rabbits, and it was only natural that the place was packed.
Ye Tianxie was in no hurry to complete his Unique quest. What he needed to do first was level… and in the shortest possible time, knock that man at the top of the Level Rankings off his perch. He had told himself long ago: in any virtual world where he existed, first place would never belong to another.
Cutting through the market-day crush of players, Ye Tianxie walked without pause into the deeper reaches of the Windfall Plains, until he reached a region where no other players could be seen at all.
The Windfall Plains: territory of the Level 15 Little Raccoons. Level 15 monsters, naturally, were beyond the reach of ordinary players at this stage.
Little Raccoon — Level 15. HP: 680. A mammal of the raccoon family, possessing highly developed dexterity in its paws, which it habitually uses for hunting and attack. Having once had its name and likeness infringed upon by a certain instant-noodle brand, it bears a deep and abiding hatred for instant noodles.
Skills: None.
After a player’s first class advancement, their skills grew varied and mature, their attributes rose accordingly, and their strength inevitably surged. And rising player strength inevitably drove up monster strength in turn. These Little Raccoons were stronger than the novice village’s monsters by who knew how many tiers. Ye Tianxie, classless, had received no additional abilities at all upon crossing Level 10 — and as one side rose while the other stood still, he now found himself at a relative disadvantage compared to other players.
The Little Raccoons were fairly docile in temperament, non-aggressive monsters. Ye Tianxie didn’t rush to attack, but slowly drew a scroll from his backpack.
The “Frenzied Battle Intent” skill scroll, obtained from the Amethyst War Tiger at the final gate of the Abyss trial. With a motion of his hand he crushed the scroll outright, and a dark radiance manifested from the shattered fragments and settled into his body.
“Ding… You have obtained the skill ‘Frenzied Battle Intent.’ May be activated when HP falls below 20%. Once activated, physical attack, magic attack, and movement speed all increase by 30%, defense drops by 50%. Costs 30 MP, lasts 30 seconds. No cooldown. Effect automatically vanishes once HP rises above 20%.”
“Whoa, I can feel master getting new power! Have you gotten really strong?” A newly woken Guoguo appeared at Ye Tianxie’s shoulder with a stretch, then produced a lollipop and spoke indistinctly around it as she licked.
Ye Tianxie, about to charge forward, stopped and turned to look at her. “Guoguo, isn’t there something you’ve forgotten to tell me?”
“Hm?” Guoguo looked up and blinked. “Is there? Guoguo doesn’t remember.”
“Yesterday you said that if I bought you lots of lollipops, you’d tell me about the Hidden Dragon Abyss.”
“The Hidden Dragon… Abyss? What sort of place is that?” Guoguo cradled her lollipop, her face all curious puzzlement — and the words out of her mouth nearly made Ye Tianxie swat her clean off his shoulder.
“Oh la la, Guoguo really doesn’t know any Hidden Dragon Abyss. But I have seen a dragon! Dragons are very, very big, and just a little bit scary. And also — somewhere in the south, in a deep, deep, dark, dark place, there’s a real dragon… a really amazing dragon.” Guoguo bit down on her candy, thinking hard as she spoke, and speaking in complete earnest.
South, deep, dark… Could that be the Hidden Dragon Abyss?
But even if it was — how was that any different from saying nothing at all? How?!
“Yee-yaa… these little kitties are so cute.” Guoguo, having spotted the great pack of Little Raccoons, brightened, her small face filling with delight and excitement. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed happily at them, and she called out brightly, “Master, let’s wipe them out, all right?”
Faced with this little thing’s thoroughly inhuman logic, Ye Tianxie was utterly defeated. He summoned the Hour of Eternal Fate and charged the Little Raccoons.
-49, -50, -48…
Ye Tianxie gave one Little Raccoon a light poke — and in an instant, the whole harmless, peacefully frolicking pack came swarming at him. Those rising damage numbers were all from the raccoons striking him. Wearing nothing but his novice clothes, he took roughly 50 damage from attacks that would have dealt about 30 to a same-level melee player. Ye Tianxie stood motionless, letting his health drain steadily away.
Until his HP fell below 100 — that is, below 20% of his total.
(End of Chapter 86)