Death Plunder! Plunder... plunder... plunder...
I continued to farm h.e.l.lhound pelts. I had about 2400 of them. Their fur was very good and would stack together, 200 for every slot. My bag would have exploded if they didn't!
This was very good. This time, Yamete had enough materials to make leather armor. It probably won't be hard for him to reach Rank 8 Armorsmithing.
I looked back. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was following me, wagging its tail happily. It leapt forward and bit the leg of a h.e.l.lhound, chewing in large gulps. The small wolf had grown very big, finally like a wolf cub and not a puppy. Its teeth had grown out, and under its bite, h.e.l.lhound meat became but a delicious meal.
I looked at the pet bar. There was a Satiety value quickly being replenished!
d.a.m.n, I underestimated this wolf. The Dark Wasp had never eaten before and didn't have Satiety. But this higher-rank pet needed to eat. Would I have to prepare its food as well in the future?
I looked around and found the little wolf's level had grown greatly after I killed numerous h.e.l.lhounds, currently sitting at 49. As expected, it was now strong enough to fight!
Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss)
Level: 49
Attack: 980
Defense : 882
HP: 9800
Agility: 1470
……
As expected of an Epic Rank Boss. Just Level 49 and had stats so powerful that it wasn't any weaker than the Level 85 Dark Wasp. Even now, it had 9800 HP while the Dark Wasp only had around 2500. The disparity was clear for all to see!
I walked out, and protected the remaining group of NPCs behind me. I proceeded forward. There were no more packs of h.e.l.lhounds, just a few charging over. I was too lazy to kill them and gave an order of the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. "Little Wolf, go, kill the two h.e.l.lhounds!"
The wolf cub poked out its tongue and sprinted. A few seconds later, it came back in misery, beat up. It was only a Level 49 pet, and the enemy were Level 95 elite monsters. It wasn't their match at all. Also, the level suppression turned out to be too much. Its stats were weakened by at least 50%!
I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and took care of the h.e.l.lhounds in a few blows. After the battle ended, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf still had over half of its HP despite the earlier beating. Its Defense and HP were pretty good.
Behind me, a group of NPC townspeople walked over. Anxious, I made the trip in haste and didn't even take 10 minutes. Please, don't let h.e.l.lhounds appear. It would be best if players did not appear too, especially those from Warsky Alliance. If I encountered them, chances of me failing the quest would be high!
Fortunately, I was lucky. I had killed all the h.e.l.lhounds back in the town, and Warsky Alliance players had gone deeper into the forest, and had no attention to spare for me.
A few minutes later, the group of NPCs entered the temporary supply camp. Even the mayor safely left the town!
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Saving the Townspeople]. You have gained 170000 EXP, 3500 Reputation, and the quest reward: “Bloodl.u.s.t”!
……
Hm? Bloodl.u.s.t?
I shuddered. What is this, a weapon? No way, would an S Rank quest reward be Purple Gold–grade equipment?
When I opened the bag, and looked, it wasn't a weapon, but a light purple skill book. When I saw the stats of the skillbook, my disappointment disappeared and my mind filled with ecstasy—
Bloodl.u.s.t: Increases your party members' attack speed by 20%. Level Requirement: 90. Tactics Requirement: 70
……
d.a.m.n! A stratagem skill that increased attack speed by 20%?
This was too good. 20% increase in attack speed was definitely not the same as 20% increase in attack power, especially to people like me who had activated skills. Increasing attack speed by 20% meant the probability of my Purgatory Slash proccing was also being increased by as much as 25%. Also, with my 71 Tactics, the true increase would be 20% * 1.71, practically 34.2%. This stratagem was even stronger than the Rank 3 Encourage I'd recently started using!
I quickly pressed ”Learn” in joy. In the next moment, the Bloodl.u.s.t skill disappeared from my palm, added to the list of my stratagems.
I changed my applied stratagem to Bloodl.u.s.t and immediately felt warm all over. When I swung my sword again, it was clearly faster. I slashed, chopped, hacked and stabbed. Yes, my leveling speed will soar!
I looked at the time, it was nearly 6 in the evening, not too early!
I opened my friend list and found Beiming Xue. I sent a message: "Beiming, how about we go offline and go eat?"
A few seconds later, Beiming Xue responded, "Okay, I am returning to the city, and going offline in two minutes!"
Right, I should return to the city and stock up. While the process of killing h.e.l.lhounds on my own was extremely pleasurable, I had used a lot of consumables, potions and durability of my gear. My Magic Consumables were running out the most. Thousand Mirage Slash, Purgatory Slash, War Crush and other skills used a lot of MP, and I was eating through my stocks too quickly, especially when fighting alone. I was just eating all the time!
Fortunately, I had 27 new weapons in my bag, all of them around Level 70–80. I also had a dozen h.e.l.lhound Cards that could increase attack power by 3%. I didn't need them but I could sell them in Sky City. There should be a market for them.
I took out a city return scroll and returned to Sky City. I immediately contacted Yamete. "Mamate, come to the eastern plaza!"
Mamate replied, "I'm busy killing crocodiles in the Blackwater Bog. I'm the head healer in the party and can't leave. If I do, Du Thirteen will kill me!"
I didn't say anything and sent a screenshot of well over 2000 Rank 7 pelts I had gotten from the h.e.l.lhounds.
Mamate replied in a flash, “f.u.c.k, screw healing, I'm coming, dear boss!"
A few seconds later, Mamate's chubby figure appeared in the city plaza. He spread his arms and laughed. "Boss, long time no see, I missed you!"
"Get lost..."
I pushed his belly aside and took out all the h.e.l.lhound pelts from my bag. "Are these pelts enough for you to get your Armorsmithing to Rank 8?"
"Yes, definitely!"
Yamete laughed. "These are amazing. I'll be the first master in Sky City to craft Level 80 metal armor and leather armor. Boss, just watch!"
I nodded. "Yes, if you make the best leather armor with Agility and ranged Attack bonuses, remember to save it for Beiming Xue. We won't let fertilizer flow to someone else's field. Try to start selling some good stuff as soon as possible."
Yamete joyfully looked at the bundles of pelts and couldn't stop smiling.
I said, "Alright, go. I'm going to go eat!"
Yamete looked at me with an odd expression. "With He Yi and Murong Mingyue?"
"No, f.u.c.k! What's with your stare? Lil Beiming said she wanted to eat hotpot tonight so I'm going with her. Sister He Yi and Mingyue are busy at the company."
"d.a.m.n..."
Yamete had a bitter look. "Ever since joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I can't keep my status as the top priest. Murong Mingyue's equipment is so strong, how can people stand it?"
I looked meaningfully at him. "You do not have as much milk as her!"
Yamete looked down at his chest. "I'm not talking to you..."
I laughed and went to the inn to go offline.
……
I took off my helmet and changed clothes. When I reached the living room, Beiming Xue was already waiting. Seeing me come over, she smiled. "Brother, I heard Sister Chaos Moon say that XX Road has a new hotpot place that is delicious. Should we go try it out?"
I nodded. "Yes, if you want, let's go!"
"Alright!"
We went downstairs and found that Murong Mingyue's A8 was there. She seemed to have left in He Yi's Lamborghini. Beiming and I now had a car to drive.
I went back upstairs to get the A8 keys before we went toward that hotpot restaurant.
When we arrived, we sat down by a table near the corridor. The place was a buffet.
Beiming Xue was clearly in a good mood and said with a smile, "Chaos Moon and Moonlight Stone came here to eat two days ago. I heard there were many handsome guys..."
I quickly adjusted my collar and said, "So am I!"
Beiming Xue laughed out loud. "You're not a handsome guy..."
"d.a.m.n..."
I usually had no confidence in my appearance. It really was a pain to be attacked by my own sister!
For a hotpot buffet, I threw in many things, and almost none were vegetables. I ate until I was on the verge of bursting, my stomach looking pregnant.
……
After eating, Beiming Xue put her hand around my arm and said as she patted her flat stomach, "So full, the eel is so delicious!"
I grinned. d.a.m.n, I had managed to get the eel pieces from under the attacks of a crowd of old women. I didn't even get to smell them before Beiming Xue ate them all.
Seeing me silent, Beiming Xue smiled sweetly and pouted, "Big bro... boss! Talk to me..."
"Mn, the wind is strong today, b.u.t.ton up." I glanced at her. The girl's figure was good, and I could see the curve and tempting glow by her collar but... but I couldn't keep on looking. This was my sister, not food.
Beiming Xue giggled and b.u.t.toned up her windbreaker. We were at the door now.
"Wait here, I'm getting the car."
"Yes!"
Just after I took a few steps, a black Mercedes stopped ahead. The door opened and two youths in black suits walked out toward me, asking, "Mister, are you Lu Chen?"