Blade of Tyranny

2

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Black Oil!
Mini Fireball!
Nie Fan continuously unleashed his two skills, and the ring signaling that he had leveled up rang soon enough.
He had reached Level 3 after killing two Giant Spiders, as well as obtaining a Level 3 White-grade item.
The speed of his leveling up was simply delightful—he stayed as the same place and leveled up while one Giant Spider dropped after another. He had gained considerably apart from leveling up too: a pile of spider fangs could be sold for up to 16 bronze coins, and he had also managed to pick up 27 bronze coins.
Moreover, his damage values with Black Oil and Mini Fireball became much higher, and he could kill the monsters even quicker.
Another dozen minutes later, Nie Fan realized that he was already Level 5 when he checked his stats, while his Black Oil and Mini Fireball skills had also increased in effect and by two levels. It was a stunning rate of leveling up, and not even being in a large group of skillful players would help leveling that quickly.
Still, it was no longer profitable to stay here and keep farming the Giant Spiders. Packing up, Nie Fan returned to purchase some potion since it would be difficult in the wild without it—it would be a serious waste of time if he had to sit and slowly recover his spent MP and HP on every turn.
He hence sprinted away, returning inside Tajit village after dashing wildly for around eight minutes. There were now thousands of players in the village now, creating a bustling atmosphere as the crowd moved here and there. There were many new players coming in as well, but the best of them were merely Level 3 while most were still Level 0. Nie Fan, now Level 5, abruptly became a god amongst men.
“That guy’s leveled up so quickly, reaching Level 5 almost right after the servers are opened…”
Some players were quietly discussing away behind Nie Fan.
Still, Nie Fan ignored the players’ weird looks as he sped towards the apothecary, selling all the spider fangs he had to the NPC and earning 16 bronze coins, and proceeding to buy two stacks of Lesser Mana Spring Water and Bread.
[Lesser Mana Spring Water: Restores 50 MP over 10 seconds.]
[Lesser Bread: Restores 50 HP over 10 seconds]

2

Both stockpiles of items were cheap: a stack of twenty Mana Spring Water costs seven bronze coins, while the Bread only costs six bronze coins.
Stuffing both items into his back and checking it, Nie Fan found that he still had thirty bronze coins. After some thought, he went off to the grocery shop to buy a few interesting objects which included six Ground Stakes, a 20-yard Gravity Javelin, six piles of Minor Sparkling Dust—spending every last of his coins.
[Ground Stake: Special item. An item favored by bandits to set traps with (Nie Fan could use it although he was a Druid). Causes damage to monsters that steps on it, 10% chance to cripple target, effective against monsters below Level 30 only.]
[20-yard Gravity Javelin: Each tube consists of ten javelins. Causes a low amount of long-range damage, a good item for early stages. 3% chance to repel target, effective against monsters below Level 30 only.]
[Minor Sparkling Dust: Special item. Throw it to cause a flashing effect when the dust hits the ground, 10% chance to blind target, effective against monsters below Level 30 only.]
While the effects of those beginner-level items were barely acceptable, there were times when they could be surprisingly effective!
***
When Nie Fan was buying items by the bulk, several players approached him. A Level 3 warrior named Warsong was leading them, while the others with him were Level 2.
“Hey, bro. Want to form a party? There’s fifteen of us in our group and our technique is alright—we are planning to head to the Grey Plains Swamp straightaway after we reached Level 15.” Warsong asked cautiously. When Nie Fan returned to the village, he had noticed that Nie Fan had powered up to Level 5 in the short time that the game had started, and knew right away that he was a good player.
Nie Fan eyed Warsong once and said flatly, “Sorry, not interested.”
Ignoring Warsong from then on, he left the grocery store.
“What a cocky fellow. Here we are offering to chat him up… Who does he think he is!?” Beside Warsong, another warrior named Warhammer started complaining. Their guild had some reputation in the professional scene, and there were many who wanted badly to join them but were declined—and then there was Nie Fan whom they had broken tradition for just to invite him to play with them, only to have him refuse their offer.
Nonetheless, Warsong appeared to have no comment regarding what Warhammer said, instead smiling quietly as he watched Nie Fan leave. “He’s playing around Kelfield… We’ll definitely meet again.”

1

For his part, Nie Fan was no professional since he just started working as a professional gamer provisionally, and therefore did not know those professional players at all. He was completely unaware of who that Warsong person was, and his invite did not ruffle him at all. Nie Fan was simply focused on carrying out his level-up plans, or he would suffer untold loss when the other players finished scouting the other maps!
After leaving Tajit Village once again, Nie Fan hurried towards the eastern end of the Blood Shade Plains.
He carefully made his way past the territories of various beasts, including the Level 3 Giant Spider domain, Level 6 Venom Spider domain, the Level 7 Lesser Goblins’ domain and the Level 9 Green Goblins’ domain as he ventured ever deeper.
At the moment, most of the other players are only brave enough to play nearby the villages, and there were virtually none who would venture so deep inside the Blood Shade Plains.
Nonetheless, moving through such places left Nie Fan sweating too. He would not have an easy time if any of the monsters here targeted him, with monsters such as the Level 9 Green Goblins being perfectly capable of insta-killing him!
He frowned slightly as he glanced at his map location—he should be near his objective, but he could not find a thing. Could it be that the coordinates his father recorded had been changed?
Maybe the mainframe had adjusted the map!
Still, unwilling to give up, Nie Fan searched the vicinity for another dozen minutes when he looked up towards the distance.
That’s it! He thought in delight, a few hundred yards away, that spot overgrown with thorn bushes!
As he dashed towards the thorny thicket, several Green Goblins noticed him and screeched, brandishing their axes as they charged towards him, prepared to encircle him.
Nie Fan ignored them and kept sprinting at the direction of the thorn bush, but the Green Goblins were closing in on him too.
Be that as it may, Nie Fan ran headlong into the thorn bushes just when the Green Goblins were just three yards away from him.
The thicket appeared unable to harm Nie Fan at all, with the thorns stopping short from breaking his skin as though was a barrier over it. He could move freely even around even at the densest spot, although his movement would slow just a little.
That being said, the thorny zone was as wide as a hundred yards!
The Green Goblins were left fuming and stamping their feet outside. They tried to rush inside the thorny thicket, but damage values would start popping up over their heads once they entered and their movements extremely slow. Helpless, they therefore chose to leave that area.
Black Oil!
A splash of dark grease wetted one of the Green Goblins from head to toe, with a Mini Fireball soon streaking through the air and hitting that creature with a bang. A blaze instantly ensued, leaving the Green Goblin screaming shrilly.
Damage points amounting above fifty started to pop up above the Green Goblin’s head as well—it certainly could not withstand such a violent assault when its HP was just around 300, and it dropped to the ground in no time at all.
With the crisp jingle of the system notifications, Nie Fan checked his level to find that he had improved to Level 6!
That was so quick!
After killing two Green Goblins, Nie Fan fumbled around their corpses to find a Level 9 Warrior White-grade armor.
In spite of it being merely White-grade, he sorely lacked equipment, not to mention that it could sell for up to twenty coins.
Afterward, Nie Fan started to head deeper into the thorn thicket. There should be a treasure chest around here! Even so, he found nothing despite having combed every inch of that location, although he did obtain two herbs and silver grass that be used as ingredients for Lesser Haste Potions, which could be sold for some money.
Minutes later, Nie Fan finally found the treasure chest hidden deep within the thorn bushes. The box was entirely grey and half-covered in mud, and basically hardly noticed unless a player was looking for it.
Nie Fan was beside himself with excitement since beginner maps hardly ever show locations of treasure chests. Crouching in front of the chest, he realized that it wasn’t locked! Still, being uncertain what was within, he reached inside with his hand and felt around, touching something with sharp edges and spikes.
His heart skipped a beat—it seemed to be an item, and he therefore scooped it out of the chest.
[Spike Spaulders (Druid): White-Bronze grade, Level 9 required, Defense 12-18, Plant-type magic damage +3, Durability 23/23]

1

Item grades were divided according to materials to Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, with Bronze itself being separated into another three different tiers: Copper, Cyan Bronze, and Dark Enchanted Bronze, the latter of which has the finest equipment up to Level 60.
Equipment were actually quite rare at the markets and mostly White-grade. Bronze items were hardly ever found, which was why each could be sold for a fine price despite having rubbish attributes.
And this was the first Copper-grade item Nie Fan obtained.
On the other hand, that treasure chest also had a 30% chance to drop a skill tome for Lycanthropy, and Nie Fan was as such a little disappointed that it wasn’t. Nonetheless, it was fine to have gained a Copper-grade item that also came with a buff for Plant-type magic damage which he majored in.

1

Nie Fan put the Spike Spaulders into his bag—he could wear it when he reached Level 9.
As he started to head for the edge of the thorn thicket, he looked to the east and caught sight of a powerful Venom Spider. Its head was several inches taller than Nie Fan and was so ugly it was puke-worthy. Its plump abdomen, up to six times the size of its front half was overgrown with thin hairs, as such making it resemble a bloated cotton ball.

1

That fellow was one of the rare Level 10 elite creatures in the area, and usually it would take a party of at least ten Level 10 players to kill it.
[Az’Shara the Venomous, Elite, Level 10, HP 620]

2

Nie Fan’s heartbeats quickened at the sight of the Venom Spider, anxiously thinking whether he could take that big fellow at Level 6.
Still, the question was whether his Black Oil and Mini Fireball combo could break its defenses!
Groaning for a second, he soon decided that the data his father left definitely wouldn’t be wrong, and whatever the case might be, there was no reason for him to retreat since he was here!
Anything could wait after he lured Az’Shara to the thorn thicket!
Chanting a curse, Nie Fan released a vicious Mini Fireball at Az’Shara from afar, detonating it over its back with a bang as sparks flared everywhere.