Chapter 10 If You Can Find That Map
Within a night, players who had reached lvl 5 appeared like bamboo shoots that had sprung up after the rain.
Liu Chang gaped at the sheer number of players gathered near the entrance of Icy Cave as she arrived there with Ye Ci.
“Wow, you can’t be serious! So many have reached lvl 5?” Liu Chang eyed the weapons and equipments of the players with doubt clearly written on her face. She mumbled, “It’s so hard to level up in Fate, are they on steroids or something? How could they do it so fast!?”
Ye Ci did nothing but smile. It was easy to level up pre-level 10. Once they went past the lvl 10 threshold, however, even raising their level by one would be as hard as climbing up the sky. “Let’s go into the dungeon.” Ye Ci said to Liu Chang.
Liu Chang could not recover from her shock for quite some time. She scanned the player-formed party with doubtful eyes after spacing out for a short moment. She was right. Her eyes were not lying to her. What’s more, she had just noticed that there were only 2 people in her party…
“Say, you must be having a fever! Just the two of us?”
“Of course.”
“Ye Ci, even though I’m level 5, even though I have the capability of summoning some minions to use as meatshields, you can’t act so rashly!” Spoke Liu Chang as if she was a senior showing her junior the ropes, “The dungeons in Fate have very high difficulty, don’t underestimate the Prep-dungeons…”
Ye Ci smiled. She interrupted Liu Chang who looked like she had more to say. “We’re just going in to have a look. We’ll just go as far as we can. There’s no death penalty anyway. In the worst case scenario, all we have to do is to restart our progress.”
“How about adding more members into our party…?”
Ye Ci flashed an unfathomable smile at Liu Chang and walked away from her. She lit up a torch and said to Liu Chang, “Are you that afraid to die?”
Liu Chang looked at Ye Ci and scratched her head. She gritted her teeth and walked up to Ye Ci, “Fine! I don’t mind dying!”
Liu Chang was prepared to die, but with Ye Ci around, it would be quite hard for her to lose her life.
Even after Sator and his two bodyguards had been slain, Liu Chang was still stupefied. It did not feel real for her.
“Liu Chang, come get the loot…” Other than leveling up Liu Chang, Ye Ci invited her to the dungeon for a change of luck. Even when one was riddled with misfortune, luck will eventually come as long one did not give up. However, Ye Ci did not have the patience to wait for it.
“Oh…”
That was the only response that Liu Chang could offer. She pinched her leg and the pain almost made her jump. “It’s real” Liu Chang murmured to herself.
As expected, Liu Chang was way luckier than Ye Ci ever was.
The three BOSSes yielded 6 Blue items. 2 leather armor, 2 cloth armor and 2 chainmail.
The Blue equipment obtained from the dungeons were far superior to the exchangeable items. Although none of the six were part of the Frost series, it was still sought after by players very much.
A Huntress could only equip leather armor at the early stage of the game, therefore Ye Ci placed the two leather armor into her inventory. Liu Chang was using a class that required cloth armor, and the two cloth armor were no doubt hers. The two chainmail were for Don Yin and Yi Cang, as the former was a warrior while the latter a knight. Ye Ci intended to mail them the equipment after leaving the dungeon.
Of the two leather armor, one was a clothing while the other was a gauntlet. Although they did not possess the agility and speed buff that Ye Ci was looking forward to, they were way superior to her current equipment. She equipped the leather armor and cleared away the mobs, preparing to leave the dungeon.
Liu Chang was very happy with her armor. She caressed it repeatedly before remembering something. “Little Ci, how did you clear this dungeon alone?”
Ye Ci stared at Liu Chang and laughed, “I had you with me.”
Liu Chang scratched her head and offered Ye Ci an embarrassed smile, “Yeah, right.”
Despite saying that, Liu Chang knew her limits. Even with her Fire Minion, her damage was not high. The lvl 1 Fire Minion died pretty easily. She did launch an attack or two from the back but the channeling time was quite long. Their combined damage output was nothing.
Ye Ci’s attack, on the other hand, was on an entirely different level. She had even seen the number “500” from Ye Ci’s single attack.
On paper, both of them were clearing the dungeon together. In reality, Ye Ci could clear this dungeon solo without a hitch, just like the mysterious person that cleared the dungeon SOLO.
“Wait a second…” Thought Liu Chang, but before she could voice it out, Ye Ci said, “Let’s not waste time, we’ll clear the dungeon again.”
Liu Chang was puzzled, but she nodded. She could do nothing but shove down the question that was about to leave her mouth and follow Ye Ci into the dungeon.
After several times journeying through the dungeon, Liu Chang finally grew familiar with the place. Other than the mobs themselves, the hardest thing about the dungeon was the need of precise positioning. She noticed that Ye Ci had not messed up her positioning even once and her movements were extremely nimble.
Liu Chang knew that her plays were not top tier, but this didn’t mean that she wouldn’t know an expert when she saw one. She was deeply impressed by Ye Ci’s gameplay. Her movements were fast, her positioning excellent, and her reaction was quick. She could handle sudden events perfectly and she rarely missed her attacks.
If even this were not expert-level skills, she wasn’t far from being an expert.
As they went back to the newbie village for supplies, Liu Chang could no longer hold back her question. “Little Ci, were you the one who cleared the dungeon SOLO yesterday?”
Ye Ci laughed and said, “It was just sheer dumb luck after dying countless of times.” She replied vaguely. She knew that she could not hide it forever, and since Liu Chang asked, she took the opportunity and gladly answered the question.
“Damn!” Liu Chang’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after receiving the answer. Ye Ci did not tell her the full truth. There was no way she could tell Liu Chang that she knew everything because she was from the future.
Despite that, she made Liu Chang to keep it a secret, even from Dong Yin and Yi Cang.
Liu Chang understood Ye Ci’s way of keeping a low profile, and she knew that disaster would follow if someone kept a high profile in any web game. She agreed to Ye Ci’s request.
Their trip was bountiful. The two already managed to change out every piece of equipment they had aside from their weapons. Ye Ci was satisfied with the +2 Speed attribute of her boots. With them, she felt way more agile than when she had only been wearing the newbie boots.
Liu Chang went back to the newbie village to level up her Fire Minions and sort out her quests. Ye Ci came along with the intention of replenishing her arrows and acquiring the Huntress’s trademark skill, “Pet Raising”.
The duo parted ways at the Crossroads. Liu Chang headed for the Lycan newbie village while Ye Ci went to Natasha’s cottage.
There were more Hunters buying arrow from Natasha, bringing about a lively atmosphere to the otherwise quiet cottage.
Ye Ci handed 10 silver coins. Natasha glanced at Ye Ci, her beautiful eyes forming into slits. “Young Huntress, was your adventure in Icy Cave hard?”
“Not bad, it’s quite interesting.” Ye Ci offered her a smile.
Natasha raised her eyebrows at the answer, nodded and said slowly, “Do you know of a legend?”
“What legend?”
“The great Elven King sealed his soul away at the end of the world, far, far away. The way to the place where his soul was sealed is drawn on a map. If you can find it…” A cunning smile lit up Natasha’s usually pretty but emotionless face.
“And after I found it?” This was yet another quest that Ye Ci had never heard of. She couldn’t help but think: how many hidden quests are there that players do not know of in this vast world of Fate?
Natasha laughed lightly. She held her fingers at her lips lightly and laughed. She laughed like a vixen, and her laugh was very seductive, “If you can find that map… I think I might tell you.”
The system notification chimed in right after her words: Do you want to accept the Hidden Quest “If You Can Find That Map?”
Ye Ci accepted the quest without hesitation. Such Hidden Quests were rare, there was no way she was going to let it slip by her. Besides, Ye Ci was interested in something that even she had no knowledge of in her past life.
The NPC’s in Fate had the tendency of using players as their mule. Just like the “honest” village chief, Natasha gave Ye Ci a skill book.
Magical Arrow crafting: An ancient arrow crafting technique, able to craft arrows with magical properties. Requires: Mid Tier Arrow Crafting
Ye Ci looked at the skill books with a heart full of sorrow. The two top-tier Arrow Crafting skill books owned by her could not be used due to her low proficiency in arrow crafting. Was there something more saddening than that in this world?
She angrily stored the Magical Arrow Crafting skill book into her inventory and rushed towards the newbie village.
Before Ye Ci could go far, she noticed that the road ahead was blocked by a large crowd.
“This place was booked by the Spring Rain Guild. All of you, go somewhere else!!!” A male voice could be heard over all the commotion.