Chapter 130 – Darling Duck
“Swoosh!”
Going online, I spawned in the North Plaza of the city and immediately received a message from Fox: “Boss, you there? ”
“Yup!”
Opening the chat window, I heard the sound of Fox’s laughter: “Boss, good news! Yesterday, we made a pretty good profit, I sold all of the equipment you gave me for 217 gold. In addition, we found a Lv 37 Silver Tier staff which sold for 45 gold. With the rest of our income, yesterday’s work day gained us 320g, which altogether sold at the Treasure Grove for 2500+ RMB! Hehe, what a great performance!”
I was delighted, “Well, that really isn’t too bad. Now we can at least afford a water dispenser. Oh right, have you found any professional players to join us? ”
Fox was embarrassed: “That … … Among us three, Wolf has the highest level, yet he is still only Lv 37. Ba Huang City’s top players have an average level of at least 45 or above. By our standards, it is rather difficult to recruit people and most of those we recruit are people below Lv 40. Up to now, Old K and I, after using many different means, have added 11 friends, levels ranging between 35-42. Among them, there are already 7 people who can be developed into Zhan Long’s long-term members. However, their real-life locations are rather scattered; most of the players live in the northern cities of China, so they probably won’t be joining our studio. However, in the future when we establish our guild, they will very likely join our forces.
I nodded: “Fox, for a team, what do you think are the three most important classes? ”
Fox ponders: “Tanks or Monks. They are required to tank the Boss. Also Healers, because their [Heal]s are required to sustain the team. Last but not least, DPS. Mages’ magic-based attacks are stronger compared to those of other classes, am I right?”
“Yeah, you’re right. Currently, I am playing the role of the main tank in our team. As for DPS, you and Old K could be considered as pretty good damage dealers. However, what we lack now is a Healer, we must find a high-level Healer with good teamwork.”
Fox was slightly troubled: “I’ll do my best, but you know, almost all of the high-level Healers at this stage have been solicited by large guilds that provide money to ‘raise’ them. Also, the cost of hiring a Healer whose level exceeds 45 is quite exorbitant, so it’s hard to find a high level Healer who has good skills. This is quite a big problem.”
I thought for a moment and comforted him: “Well, strengthening our team isn’t something we can do overnight. Let’s go about it slowly. As long as the four of us do not give up, Zhan Long will definitely become strong! For now, you guys should concentrate on reaching Lv 40 within 48 hours. Level 40, you hear me?!”
“Ok!”
……
Turning off the chat window, I opened the Ba Huang City’s map and found myself at a loss for what to do next. I was Lv 50 and the hunting grounds for my level range were quite far away from town. As for the Lv 7 herbs, there weren’t any leads. Forget it, I’ll check the forums to see if there’s anything profitable to do. After all, sharpening an axe is the prerequisite for chopping wood.
(TL: He is basically saying that if he sharpens his skills and knowledge, he will still be making progress.)
Opening Ba Huang City’s forum, I saw a red post right at the top of the forum page. It was the [Vanguard] Guild’s recruitment post –【Top Post】 (Posted by: Jian Feng Han): The [Vanguard] Guild has been formed and is currently recruiting members!
Content: Greetings, my friends from Ba Huang City. I am Jian Feng Han, the guild leader of [Vanguard]. After much hard work, we have finally hunted down a Guild Creation Tablet and after fulfilling the charm requirements, we finally have officially formed the [Vanguard] guild. Although it isn’t the first guild to be established, we have the confidence to make [Vanguard] the top guild of Ba Huang City. We are a team, an invincible team! Thus, [Vanguard] is currently recruiting members and we welcome players from any class. There is no limit to our recruitment volume, but our other requirements are that players must be at least Lv45 and possess at least 2 Silver Ranked equipment. The heavy armor classes should have an attacking power beyond 1400 or defense above 1100, whereas Mages should possess a DPS of 500 or above. Healers should be able to, on average, recover 400 HP every second. [Vanguard] is our home and we welcome you to join it!
……
Although it was only posted 12 hours ago, there were already a staggering 13k+ replies. Most of them were congratulatory or inquiries on how to become a member of [Vanguard]. Scrolling down, Fallen Wolf and Simple were patiently replying to all of the inquiries made. Currently, there were already hundreds of top-notch players who promised to join [Vanguard] online.
Frowning, I sighed. The [Vanguard] name was well-known in many of the other popular games and thus the popularity [Vanguard] enjoys is something a new guild like [Valiant Bravery] would find hard to compete with. Although [Vanguard] was getting stronger and stronger, my heart felt more and more excitement. After all, only a strong rival is able to stir the fighting spirit of another strong person.
After looking through the other posts, since I was bored I looked through the 【Gossip/ Employment/ Trade】section.
A few minutes later, my eyes lit up, I actually found a familiar name–【Employment】 (Poster: Darling Duck): Hiring a Main Tank for 10G!
Content: My friend is currently in the midst of doing an A-rank quest and requires a player with a charm value of at least 25 to trigger the boss and upon triggering the boss, the player would have to suffer a powerful strike from the boss. For players who fit this criteria, please contact in game, I shall pay 10G as commission!
……
Darling Duck … … Isn’t that [Vanguard]’s top healer?!
I quickly searched for information on Darling Duck and my eyes lit up again. I saw an opportunity– Darling Duck Lv 42 Silver Healer Main City: Ba Huang City Guild: None…
My heart skipped a beat. Why would Darling Duck be only Lv 42? Furthermore, without a guild? Based on logic, a Healer as good as her should have already joined the [Vanguard] guild already, unless… Darling Duck was abandoned by the [Vanguard] guild?!
I immediately sent a friend request to Darling Duck!
“Ding!”
It was approved and Darling Duck appeared on my friends list. Without any hesitation, I sent a chat request to her. She accepted the chat request and I heard the surprise in her voice — “Oh, isn’t this Xiao Yao Zi Zai? One of the top players on Ba Huang City rank board, why would you suddenly send me a buddy request…”
Trying to laugh in a natural way, I replied: “Darling Duck, do you still remember me? ”
“Why wouldn’t I remember? For a Heavenly Plan Sword, you killed guild leader Jian Feng Han… … ”
“Uh … …” It appeared that she was fooled by Jian Feng Han’s words. In no hurry to explain the situation then, I said: “Let’s not speak of that, I was flipping through the forums and saw your post. Have you found a Main Tank with charm above 25 points yet?
“No…” A sense of helplessness slipped through Darling Duck’s tone. “Most of the Main Tanks only have around a charm value of 10+ and those worse off only have 3 or 4 points in charm. Truthfully, the number of players in Ba Huang City that have 25 charm isn’t more than a handful. Well, our guild leader Jian Feng Han does have 25 charm but he is a busy man. Yesterday when I asked him for help, he said that he didn’t have the time to help me…”
I laughed: “He just established his [Vanguard] guild, so he is bound to be busy. About that… Can I ask you a question? ”
“Sure, what do you want to ask me about? ”
“Your level… How come you are only at Lv 42? Did you PK with other people? ”
“Of course not…”
Darling Duck stuck out her tongue and laughed: “Actually, a few days ago, I went on a trip with my mother to Korea, thus couldn’t find the time to go online. When I finally went online again, I realized that the main Healers in [Vanguard] were already between the level range of 47-48. Now, I can only be a substitute Healer in the [Vanguard] guild. Wuwu, when we went to fight a Boss this afternoon there wasn’t even a chance for me to heal……”
[Note: Wuwu is onomatopoeia for crying.]
Sensing an opportunity, I immediately asked: “That… Actually, I have 34 charm currently and just like Jian Feng Han, I can fulfill the requirements of your quest. Why don’t I help your friend to finish the quest? ”
Darling Duck was stunned for a moment: “To make one of the top players help us with our quest, I would feel bad accepting your help. ”
I replied casually, “It’s okay, I don’t have much to do this afternoon anyways, so I can afford to do you this favor. Furthermore, the quest requires a player with a charm above 25. Honestly, not counting me, I doubt that there are more than five players who can fulfill this requirement. ”
Darling Duck nodded: “Sure, I’ll wait for you at the North Gate! ”
“Okay!”
……
I quickly walked over to our meeting point and leaned against the wall of the North Gate, awaiting Darling Duck’s arrival.
A few minutes later, with a swoosh swoosh, there were 2 rays of light and Darling Duck, together with another female Wind Elf Mage walked over. The Mage was called Rippling Pond, a Lv 41 Mage, with decent looking equipment.
“Xiao Yao Zi Zai!”
Darling Duck quickly noticed me and walked over with light footsteps. Smiling lightly, she said: “Long time no see! ”
With a wave of a hand, I smiled and replied, “So, this Rippling Pond beauty here is your friend? ”
“Yup!”
Looking at her, she looked similar to Darling Duck. I would give her 7 points, no chest and no butt, the type that uncles would like. Under my request, I joined their party, forming a party of 3.
Rippling Pond blinked her eyes and said, “The destination is the valley deep in Ba Huang Forest. There, we will find a sealed stone. The sealed stone requires a person of at least 25 charm for the seal to be broken to awaken the Boss inside the stone. However, at the moment the seal is lifted, the person who broke the seal would suffer 2000 damage from the boss, following which, the boss which was released would chase after the player. So, you see, it is hard to find players who can complete this quest, it’s so difficult that I feel like giving the quest up…”
Saying this, she looked at me with watery eyes, “Brother Zi Zai, I am sure that you have 25 charm, but is your health above 2000?
I looked at my stats, 2203 HP. Then I looked back at them, smiled, and replied, “Don’t worry, just leave this quest to me!”
“Okay! Awesome!!” Rippling Pond cheered as her robe flew up and down, yet what was underneath remained deeply hidden.
……
After summoning Baby Bobo, the bee immediately came to a rest on my shoulder. This time, bringing these 2 ladies out of town, I felt a lot less pressure. The last time when I brought Lin Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue around the city, we attracted tons of attention. However, this time only a few people glanced at us; we didn’t create a commotion.
Of course, if you looked closely, Darling Duck and Rippling Pond could also be considered decently pretty and were likely to have fans.
……
Ba Huang Forest was a territory of wild animals. Without walking far, we encountered a Lv 37 Wild Boar in the middle of the road and Rippling Pond immediately gripped her staff and says, “Brother Zi Zai, you tank its attack. I will play the role as the damage dealer…”
“Klang!”
Unsheathing my Frost Rain Sword, I smiled, “It’s okay, I can deal with it alone. Both of you hurry along, don’t waste your time with this kind of low-leveled monster!”
“Oh?”
Rippling Pond widened her pair of big, watery eyes in disbelief–
Done by BaoChou and t3chnically!