Chapter 123: Discovery
The Crimson Plain is located several dozen miles southwest of Yunshui City.
Over the past week, players have roughly grasped a pattern: the farther one is from human towns, the higher the level and rarity of the monsters.
Therefore, if one wants to acquire high-tier materials or level up quickly, constant exploration outward is necessary.
That said, the cost of dying is a loss of 1 level, and encountering high-rarity wild monsters often results in being sent back to Yunshui City without the chance to fight back. Most players prefer to level up in areas with more people, with only the top tier players being the main force for exploration.
However, now, at the border between the Misty Rocks and the Crimson Plain, a large number of players have appeared.
Two groups of players have encountered each other here.
The Brotherhood arrived first.
Yibo has been witnessing their entire escape process since the Gray Wolf incident began yesterday afternoon.
That burrowing beetle was absurd! It dug a tunnel and ran away right in front of them.
This made everyone inside and outside the guild talk about it incessantly, which was very annoying.
Under the temptation of hidden plots and possible Easter eggs, he led his brothers through numerous hardships and even crossed the Black Crystal Lava Lake. Although the monsters there were few, every Lava Spider could potentially cause casualties.
In the end, following the clues, only half of the members arrived at the Crimson Plain.
It truly was a lamentable feat to cross three large maps on foot.
If they didn’t get some benefits out of it, his morale would definitely crumble.
But…
Looking at the hundred or so people behind him, Yibo’s face turned red.
“Damn it, this bunch just follows like coat-tails!”
Indeed, what was trailing behind was Yuhua.
The incident at the Grey Ridge Plain was a major event in Yunshui City! Apart from the Unity of Heaven and Earth, every other sizable guild had sent people along.
However, the Brotherhood acted the fastest.
To explain the reason, last night, Tianya Yidao, one of their guild’s few elite assassins, managed to follow closely behind the Gray Wolf thanks to his gear stacked with movement speed.
Of course, he was only keeping his distance.
Ultimately, they found a safe route.
“Haha, this group of fools from the Brotherhood thinks they can reap the rewards by getting here first, but we’re not lacking members either!” Yuhua Dianhuo said with a laugh.
“Hmph, they’re just a bunch of brutes,” Yuhua Xuanlong coldly replied.
“The president is wise!”
“Don’t underestimate them. Yibo is not only a good commander, but his combat skills are also top-notch,” One Dream Floating Life reminded.
“Just you?” Yuhua Dianhuo couldn’t help but mock, “Yesterday you acted all high and mighty, and what’s the result? You lost to a level 30 Endless Sea! Trash!”
“Dianhuo!” Yuhua Xuanlong shouted angrily, then calmly addressed One Dream Floating Life, “Brother, winning or losing is common in battles; losing once is normal. As long as you keep working hard, everyone will become more in sync. Yuhua will always support you.”
“…” One Dream Floating Life’s face was gloomy, unable to refute. A loss is a loss; he didn’t expect the Endless Sea to charge, and their combat awareness had improved significantly compared to before.
Yuhua Xuanlong smiled, as they had a contract. To hire this solo god, they paid substantial deposits, but… conversely, if One Dream Floating Life didn’t achieve some decent results within the month, not only would they lose their money, but he would also be forced to serve Yuhua!
Not to mention Yuhua, Mingxiao and the members of Drunken Fairy Tale were also on their way to the Crimson Plain, along with countless small guilds and curious players trailing behind.
…
“President, I checked yesterday, just ahead there’s a gathering of white goblins, which are level 25 silver-grade monsters. The Gray Wolves that ran away have also come here,” Tianya Yidao said. “Moreover, I also saw those people on the level leaderboard yesterday!”
“Level leaderboard?” Yibo replied in surprise. “Could it be… Fenghuayue!?”
“No, I didn’t see her; it was a few others. Everyone except from Fairy Tale Forest and Fenghuayue is here! There are also several unfamiliar faces.”
“It’s certainly a group. I found it strange how all the names on the leaderboard changed suddenly; it seems they’ve done something incredible! Alright, let’s move now; we can’t come here for nothing!”
“Oh—!!”
…
“Clan Leader! A large number of adventurers are approaching!” Kainel hurried back to the camp.
“What!?” Alu immediately stood up. “Let me check it out.”
…
Brown Bear:
Rarity: Silver Grade
Level: 28
Health: 8000
Physical Attack Power: 178-221
Physical Defense: 99
Magical Defense: 78
Skills: Rock Smash, Ground Chop, Berserk
Description: A resident of Spirit King’s Forest, it enjoys crushing strangers’ heads—if you see one, run! Don’t believe any talk of playing dead!
The west of the Crimson Plain borders the Spirit King’s Forest, where one can find ample timber and resources, along with level 28 brown bears for leveling up.
“Be quiet!” Endless Sea whispered. “I’ll control it first, Youyou, wait for my taunt to finish before you follow up.”
“Mm,” Youyoufen nodded.
“Alright, let’s go!”
As the words fell, Cute Orange nervously cast Battle Song and Inspire again. By the way, the new skill learned by the bard at level 20 is Sound Leap.
This is a long-range, single target attack/heal skill, depending on the hit target.
However, the skill multiplier is relatively low, only 100+ magic attack * 0.5, with a cooldown of 10 seconds.
It’s a somewhat useless skill, but it alleviates the bard’s situation of being unable to deal damage or heal and only buffing before going idle.
Brother Shiu was the first to throw Fire Sea and Thunder Cloud, both of which have a long attack range and can draw the brown bear over.
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Sure enough, the spell damage dealt to the monster was still very substantial, and these two skills are damage over time; after adding an explosive flame and magic impact, the brown bear was down to half health.
If there was Blink, a mage with Fire Sea and Thunder Cloud would have been able to eliminate the brown bears here without taking damage, though the mana consumption would have been staggering. Without mana recovery equipment, it could run out of blue mana in just a few casts.
After losing half health, the brown bear turned red all over, entering a berserk state!
This berserk state was a skill not seen for a long time, previously encountered on the boars blocking the entrance in Beginner Village, almost scaring Endless Sea.
Charge!
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Although the stats were significantly boosted in the berserk state, the stun effect still worked.
If left uncontrolled, a Ground Chop could likely stun the entire team, leading to trouble.
One second later, the control lifted, and the resistance to control greatly increased after going berserk; Taunt!
With Brother Shiu’s violent output, along with Youyou’s Lord Xisi and Lightning Bunny, the brown bear fell to the ground unwillingly before it could unleash its power.
The entire process cost them no health.
Cute Orange’s damage could be ignored.
On the other side, however, was a completely different strategy.
Nangong initiated with Armor-Piercing Arrow, and Chuxue came to tank.
With the armor-piercing effect, physical damage was not bad, and they didn’t have to worry about mana consumption, with Wencheng and Jiangxia alternating healing to conserve potions.
Upon closer inspection, there was also a Lava Spider desperately attacking the brown bear, but unfortunately, being low level, it couldn’t make much of an impact.
Zane gave Wencheng the Staff of Prayers, as Jiangxia had a higher-grade staff, the Wind Whispering Staff, obtained earlier in the Tower of Forgetting.
Pressured by the imposing exterior, ultimately the Traveler and Nangong each took one.
Unfortunately, the success rate was only 30%, and only the Traveler succeeded, leaving Nangong bitterly muttering in envy.
With this silver-grade pet, it would greatly help the Traveler in future battles—first stealthing around to use Flame Spider Web to control, then crazy backstabbing, which would be simply comfortable!
Both sides were working hard to collect resources; such collection tasks naturally benefit from quantities, with higher task grades yielding better rewards.
However… they were completely unaware of the situation in the Crimson Plain.
