Chapter 143: New Member
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor:
[Solid Iron Bar] is a composite item. The materials needed to craft a [Solid Iron Bar] are 100 [Iron Bar], and they had to go through a process known as Smelting, similar to it's real-life counterpart.
As this goes, the original price of [Iron Bar] will increase. The highest price for 200 bars was 50 gold coins. The price will fluctuate and eventually stabilize at 10 gold coins for 200 bars later. This is part of the game's system to prevent gold coin inflation.
After an update patch in the future, [Iron Bar] sorted out to 200 bars a stack compared to the previous 20 bars a stack. So far in the game, a majority of the players had already reached level 30 on average. Their Profession must have reached to at least Amateur or higher. [Iron Bar] was a basic ingredient that would not have any demand as players' Profession level rose. As the demand drops, the price would drop as well. Since the item had been lacking in demand and interest, the prices that once begun 5 gold coins for 200 bars had dropped to 2 gold coins for 200 bar.
However, the moment players started to take part in the Flame Poison Land dungeon raid, the price for [Iron Bar] would be raised up to 10 gold coins for 200 bars! That's 5 times the original value!
If Zhang Yang invested 40,000,000 gold coins, the money will multiply itself to 200,000,000!
The only problem Zhang Yang faced now was the shortage in storage! The total storage unit that Zhang Yang had so far were his own personal bank storage at 400 slots, the guild's secondary storage at 1000 slots, and the Little Merchandize Shop storage at 1000 slots. All of them would total up to 2400 slots of storage space.
Zhang Yang had first planned to buy a few more storage slots for the guild storage. He also planned to level up the Little Merchandize Shop to increase its storage space. He was willing to spend all his money to upgrade it all! The more he spends, the more he stands to earn!
However, the guild storage expansion fees will be at 1,000,000 gold coins per page1. Even though the exchange rate of the game currency to real life currency has dropped to 1:4, it was at least 4,000,000 dollars! That's a crazy amount of money for expansion! Since the rate will continue to drop even further, Zhang Yang thought that he should wait for a while before he purchase any inventory expansion. Until the inventory space was completely used up, he should not make any hasty decision.
7pm, and the party of 6 logged in together at the same time. The team then proceeded to venture deeper into the valley. So far, the team status was: Zhang Yang at level 39, Fatty Han at level 40, Hundred Shots at level 38, Sun Xin Yu at level 40, Han Ying Xue at level 40, and Wei Yan Er at level 40.
After the team entered the entrance of the valley, they were greeted with a large cave entrance. The inside of the cave was so dark that they could not see how deep it went.
"WAAAA..."
"KYAAA..."
Just as when Zhang Yang was about to signal the party to go in, they heard a sudden wail, followed by two loud "Thud!". Two mangled, bloody bodies of players dropped right in front of them.
The party instinctively looked up at the peak of the valley. The height of the little hill was at least 200 to 300 meters tall. Anyone would have their head rolling off their body if they had a fall from that height!
The two deceased had already released their souls to respawn. The bodies that remained there still had their name tag hovering over.
Endless Starlight, Dwarf Defender, Male, Level 38
Daffodil Daydream, Human Pyromancer, Female, Level 39
Neither of them were in a guild.
Zhang Yang was stunned! It's them!
Endless Starlight! The outstanding character that was sought out by many super guild as the best tank there is! It turned out that Endless Starlight did not want to leave his own guild and it led to the alliance of 3 super guilds to sabotage his guild to the point where he had deleted his account.
Daffodil Daydream was ranked last in the Top 10 Spellcaster in the entire China server in Zhang Yang's previous life. She was one of the top players in China where everyone would know her name!
In this turn of events, Zhang Yang would have never thought that he would meet these two superstars here! What sort of twisted, weird, and crazy story would lead them to fall out of the sky?!
Zhang Yang quickly cried out to Han Ying Xue, "Revive them!"
Curious, Han Ying Xue was lost in her own thoughts, thinking as of how these two weirdos would fall down from the peak. She quickly cast <Resurrection> and revived the two of them.
20 seconds later, the two of them were revived one after the other. However, once Daffodil opened her eyes and saw Endless Starlight standing in front of her, she immediately cast a <Fire Blast> and almost killed Endless Starlight who only had 20% of HP at upon revival.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Zhang Yang quick stepped in and stood in front of Endless Starlight to protect him. "I don't know what kind of fight you guys had before, but why do you have to kill?"
Daffodil had a beautiful appearance but what stood out the most was her long, slim legs that could intoxicate any one with that kind of fetish to dub her as the "Leg Goddess".
Angry and puffing steam out of her nostrils, Daffodil strafed left and right to get past Zhang Yang in order to get a clear shot. But when Zhang Yang proved that he was much better at covering the poor man, she gave up and finally spoke.
"I was fighting a boss at the peak when suddenly, this guy appeared out of nowhere and was under my feet! I was too surprised to even realize that I was running away in the wrong direction! That was how I fell down from the top of that cliff!"
Zhang Yang turned around and his back facing Daffodil and asked Endless Starlight. "What's your story?"
Endless Starlight was staring back and forth between Daffodil, Han Ying Xue, Sun Xin Yu, and Wei Yan Er before he realized that Zhang Yang talking to him.
"I was at the top of the hill taking a nice walk. You know...to explore the area. And then! Just like that! As if the goddess had descended upon me! There, standing right in front of my eyes were two perfect, beautiful, flawless legs, the best I have ever seen! I chased after the miracle that was bestowed to me and before I knew it, I was dead..."
The moment Endless Starlight had mentioned "goddess" Zhang Yang and the girls were already frowning.
Fatty Han was laughing loudly and patted Endless Starlight's shoulder and said, "Brother! You're one brave one! You have my respect!"
"Hahahahaha! It's nothing really!" Endless Starlight replied with a pervert smile on his face. "To chase after the perfect beauty is every man's dream!"
"Well said! Brother!"
"We're the same!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA" both of them laughed even louder.
This...this was the guy? The man who was fought over 3 super guilds? The one who had raged quit the game? The Endless Starlight?! Zhang Yang could not help but to have thousands of doubts in his mind. He turned around to face Daffodil Daydream. "Sigh...Just...Just forget about this stupid fool. It's not worth your anger."
Daffodil stomped the ground angrily and screamed. "Why shouldn't I? That bastard had me waste a boss kill! I have to kill him! At least once!"
"Kill me! O goddess! I would die for you!" said Endless Starlight while kneeling down with a face of ecstasy.
Just as she was about to cast <Fire Blast>, Daffodil shuddered and failed the cast, frightened by his perverted expression.
Zhang Yang laughed it off and said, "Alright! Keep calm guys! Daffodil, it's just a boss! How about this? We are actually on our way to kill a Gray-Silver boss for our quest. How about we team up for a bit?"
Everyone on Zhang Yang's party was stunned. They turned to look at Zhang Yang, thinking that he might have an interest in Daffodil Daydream.
Indeed, Zhang Yang was interested in Daffodil, but not in that kind of way!
She was one of the Top 10 Spellcasters of all China! If Zhang Yang could recruit her to his side, his future would be brighter than ever! He could obtain all First Clear Achievements! He could win Professional Leagues! She was the big bag of gold found at the end of the rainbow!
"Gray-Silver boss?! Woah! I want! Invite me! Invite me!" Before Daffodil could react Endless Starlight had already crying out like Wei Yan Er would.
Zhang Yang noticed that Daffodil had showed a slight interest in his suggestion but did not manage to react in time. Zhang Yang smiled and sent them both a party invite.
'Ding! Player Endless Starlight had joined the party!'
'Ding! Player Daffodil Daydream had joined the party!'
Both of the accepted the invitation rather quickly.
"Hmm? Aren't you guys the party that got those First Clear Achievement?" said Endless Starlight as he got excited. Other than Fatty Han, the rest of the party had picked up Zhang Yang's habit and hid their personal profile information. Daffodil was more subtle than Endless Starlight but her eyes betrayed her awe.
Zhang Yang laughed it off. "Let's go!"
He tried to share the quest [To Protect the Holy Land] to the two new members but neither of them could accept the quest. Looks like they must complete the prerequisite escort quest and raise their Centaur's Reputation to be able to share the quest.
As the party moved into the dark pathway, Zhang Yang and Endless Starlight were position at the most front as both of them were tanks.
"Damn son! I'm so jealous of you! Look, you have the ice-cool lady, a boobalicious babe, and a little spicy loli! Holy cow! I'd wish I had the girls like you have! Imagine living the life, surrounded by girls! Aww Yiss! I would not want to be a king without his harem!" Endless whispered to Zhang Yang.
"..." Zhang Yang was completely speechless.
"I'll tell ya! My dream is to make my own harem guild! Every day, I would bring those girls along with me into the dungeon and fight those monsters! Dude! That's the dream!" said Endless Starlight with a strong sense of justice.
Zhang Yang was stunned. This guy...Did he delete his account because the guild was disbanded, and he could not have any girls by his side? Pfft... if that was the case then, it much have been a real shocker!
The moment Zhang Yang had laid eyes on these two new members of the party, he already had plans to recruit them into Lone Desert Smoke. Endless Starlight was a strong tank. He could lead a separate team as an exploration team! Daffodil Daydream on the other hand was to fill the empty slot of the main party, she could be one of the core member in the battle team for the Professional League!
As they walked for about 7 to 8 minutes into this dark pathway, the party had walked out of the darkness and into the bright day light. They were standing by a huge hillside. There, by the side of the hill, stood a majestic castle, albeit in ruins. The entrance door of the castle had the carvings of two huge Centaurs. One of them was wielding a spear and was in an attacking stance. The other was drawing a huge a long bow. Both of them looked like they were gods immortalized into art. Surrounding the entire hillside were burning torches stabbed into the ground to illuminate the surrounding.
"Let's go!" Zhang Yang unsheathe his sword and took the lead.
'Ding! You have entered the Centaur Castle! The Castle has 5 floors. The Evil Necromancer Zac is located at the highest floor of the Castle! You have to survive each test at each floor to defeat the Evil Necromancer Zac!'
Everyone's mini-map display had changed into the castle interior.
"This is the land of the dead slumbers...Anyone who dares to intrude shall die!" A husky voice echoed from afar. No one could tell whether the voice belonged to a female or male.
"Damn. This place is spooky. I'm getting the creeps here!" said Endless Starlight. He had successfully taken over Fatty Han's role of being the party's most annoying, talkative person.
Everyone proceeded further into the massive castle and was shocked to what they saw. There were so many monsters around they could not contain their tense intake of breath upon sighting them. The place was so huge that it could fit 10 thousand people and still have the space to play soccer! The worst part of this place was that it was completely filled with monsters, squeezed tightly like sardine in a can!
The monsters around here only comprised of one type. They were all centaurs, presumably the royal guard. They were all undead, walking skeleton, some of them still having rotting flesh dangling from their skeletons.
[Centaur Royal Guard] (Elite, Spectre)
Level: 40
HP: 80,000
The HP was not much but their numbers were.
"Nice! There's so many monsters here! Grinding would be a piece of cake!" Fatty Han cried out excitingly. Even since they had reach level 30, Fatty Han had never got the chance to be enlisted into the Level Ranking Board. Since there were so many monsters around to kill, the amount of experience point to be obtained here was luxurious!
Zhang Yang stopped and thought for a moment before saying, "Fatty, use <Barrage> and get the monster's aggro to start the fight. Run behind me after that!'
"Ok!" Fatty Han immediately cast <Barrage> and attack the furthest region. A wave of arrows was shot into the sky and landed on the monster.
"-307!"
"-310!"
"-301!"
...
Various damage text floated over and over 10 monsters stomped their hooves and charged towards Fatty Han.
"Good lord! How did you pull so many monsters! I can't handle that much!" Endless Starlight cried. He thought that Zhang Yang and the rest of the party knew he was a Defender, who excelled in mass crowd control, that was why the party had pulled that many monsters in one go!
Even though he was a future super star, but as of now, he was just a new player who had only joined the game for only 2 months. The moment he saw there were more than 10 monsters charging towards the party, his heart sank. However, he did not budge from his stance, as a tank, even if he had to die, he must die in the front line!
Zhang Yang saw how Endless Starlight was behaving and laughed. "Honey dear, give me a shield!"
Han Ying Xue gave Zhang Yang a stare, but nevertheless waved her hand, casting a <Holy Shield> on him.
Zhang Yang activate <Blood Rage> and gained 30 Rage points. He quickly used <Charge> and dashed towards the incoming monsters.
<Thunder Strike>!
<Horizontal Sweep>!
With two AoE attack skill unleashed, all incoming monsters were inflicted with "-262!", and "-1550!". Every monster that had their aggro on Fatty Han instantly turned towards Zhang Yang.
"Start the attack!"
Zhang Yang commanded. The verbal command was for Endless and Daffodil. Everyone else had already got used to Zhang Yang's attacking pattern. They would automatically attack without him needing to command.
Endless Starlight was attacking the monsters but when he noticed that neither of the monster had their aggro on him, he cried out. "Zhan Yu! You're one strong dude! You could still handle all the aggro properly when there are so many monsters! Honestly, I'm so confused right now! Which class was the one supposed to be good at handling mass aggro control again?"
Daffodil Daydream was being cautious. She was so afraid that her attack would OT. However, after one <Rain of Fire>, the monster had completely ignoring her! She was both surprised and happy at the same time. She was surprised that Zhang Yang could handle the aggro so well after a Pyromancer attacked. As a high DPS class player, she had never felt the joy of casting all her demolishing spells without the worry of OT!
Zhang Yang was not standing statically in the field, instead, he used <Thunder Smash> to slow the monsters around before rounding them up together to maximize the damage caused by the team's AoE skill. While he was doing that, he used <Block> to nullify the monster's attack. Still, he was taking some light damage, but he was not worried for even a second as there was a super healer standing behind him!
If he had to, he could unleash all his skill and could still heal over what Han Ying Xue could!
Endless Starlight charged into the fight as well. As a professional tank, he never broke the rhythm. He activated <Devotion>, <Justice Bash>, <Strong Hammer> and a series of AoE skills to attack the monsters.
1Page: Page here refers to the windows tab. Usually a tab would have a fixed amount of storage slots. Zhang Yang had already expanded page which means one page will be 500 inventory slots.