Update Time: 2014-02-13
After Lin Zheng finished his ultimate move, it was Youxi's turn. As the only mage in the team, Youxi became the main DPS at this moment!
Besides the Chain Lightning area-of-effect skill, Youxi surprisingly also had a group ice attack skill called "Falling Ice Spell." Xiao Meng said it seemed to be a reward from the job advancement evaluation!
This skill was incredibly powerful! Not only did it deal more damage than Chain Lightning, but it also had a slowing effect, significantly reducing the pressure on the two frontline players, and even eliminating the original plan to have Xiao Meng and Lin Zheng swap out for defense!
With Lilith in the back, the health of Lin Zheng and the other defender could basically be maintained above 80%, making the grinding very safe!
As a result, Xiao Meng ended up just idling around here!
Soon! Half an hour passed, and everyone leveled up! And not just by one level!
Yang Qi went straight to level 26, Lilith to 23, Youxi to 24, Xiao Meng to 23. Although Lin Zheng received 10% less experience, he also reached level 22 and wasn't far from leveling up again. The efficiency of killing monsters at this choke point was simply too high!
If they were to grind monsters here all night, they'd probably leave the other players on the Heaven Rank far behind!
However, it was a pity that elite monsters had a limited refresh time; they respawned once a week here, and the number of ice apes in the current chamber was already dwindling!
"There are only a few left, let's finish them quickly and go to the next floor!" Lin Zheng said, kicking away an ice ape, then he charged out.
Just a few ice apes, they couldn't pose much of a threat to him anymore!
Yang Qi also rushed out, Black Crow Sword swinging, taking another ice ape's life.
Xiao Meng, who had been idling for a long time, was like a bird released from its cage, excitedly rushing towards the few remaining ice apes.
Before long, the remaining ice apes were also completely wiped out.
The entire chamber was filled with monkey corpses and equipment treasures!
"Wow! Leveling up like this is too fast! Shengun and you guys are amazing! You must take me and Youxi with you when you level up in the future!" Xiao Meng exclaimed excitedly, looking at her level.
"That's right, if there's such a good thing in the future, you must include me too! The total experience gained in this half an hour is too lovely!" Lilith said, her small face flushed, looking even more charming.
However, no one paid attention to her at this moment. Lin Zheng and the other's eyes were both fixed on the equipment and game coins on the ground.
"No problem! No problem! We're all friends, of course we'll call you if there's a benefit!" Lin Zheng said casually, "Let's start cleaning up the battlefield first!" This was his true intention!
"Mm!" The two girls nodded and joined the treasure-picking ranks, while Youxi leisurely sat on a rock, holding a book and quietly reading, seemingly uninterested in the pile of items on the ground.
There was simply too much stuff. Although the drop rate in this game wasn't very high, Lin Zheng and his group had killed too many monsters, several thousands of them!
After several minutes of cleaning up, they finally put all the items from the battlefield into their bags.
All four of them had satisfied expressions; this time's harvest was huge!
For Lin Zheng, he picked up nearly 80 gold coins and about 20 pieces of equipment!
The items dropped by elite monsters were at least Black Iron grade, and there were even quite a few Bronze grade items!
After exchanging items among themselves, they managed to put together a full set of brand new equipment!
Lin Zheng put together a set of Ice Ape Leather Armor.
Ice Ape Leather Cap: Physical Defense 20, Magic Defense 20, Strength +5, Agility +5
Ice Ape Leather Armor: Physical Defense 55, Magic Defense 55, Max HP +800, Ice Resistance +20
Ice Ape Gloves: Physical Defense 25, Magic Defense 25, Attack Speed +5%, Ice Resistance +15
Ice Ape Bracers: Physical Defense 25, Magic Defense 25, Physical Defense +50, Ice Resistance +15
Ice Ape Leggings: Physical Defense 20, Magic Defense 20, Strength +5, Stamina +5
Ice Ape Leather Boots: Physical Defense 25, Magic Defense 25, Movement Speed +4%, Ice Resistance +10
The set effect was All Attributes +10, Ice Resistance +40. Once equipped, Lin Zheng's attributes instantly underwent a drastic change!
Yi Ping (Swordfighter)
Level 22
Strength: 68
Intelligence: 11
Stamina: 39
Agility: 16
Spirit: 11
Physical Attack: 513-732
Magic Attack: 357-412
Physical Defense: 356
Magic Defense: 211
HP: 2945
MP: 1650
...
"Hehe! Aren't my stats powerful!" Lin Zheng said proudly.
"Wow! Shengun is so amazing!" Xiao Meng very cooperatively stared at Lin Zheng with stars in her eyes, giving Lin Zheng a great sense of accomplishment!
"Not bad, your current equipment is definitely top-tier in Tianshuang City! Excellent in both offense and defense, very formidable!" Yang Qi commented very objectively.
"I still don't have rings. If I had two rings, my attack would increase by a large margin!" Lin Zheng said with some regret!
"Hmm, rings are harder to drop, I don't have any either! But no rush, we'll get them eventually!"
"Speaking of which..." Lin Zheng took out his dagger and said, quite depressed, "This thing is supposed to grow, it's eaten so much of my experience, but its attributes haven't changed! It's not scamming me, is it!?"
"Wow! What kind of dagger is that!? Its attributes are too ridiculous!" Lilith said in surprise, looking at the dagger's attributes that Lin Zheng displayed.
"That's not fair! My dagger in Newbie Village only had 55 attack, how is yours so abnormal!" Xiao Meng exclaimed, looking unbalanced.
“Oh, right!” The two of them were seeing Lin Zheng’s dagger attributes for the first time, so Lin Zheng explained the dagger’s origin again. Even though Yang Qi was hearing it for the second time, she couldn’t help but feel incredibly jealous of Lin Zheng’s heaven-defying luck!
She wished she could have such an encounter herself. Although her own luck wasn’t bad, who would complain about having too much good luck?
“This thing, its bonus attributes are quite arrogant, but its base attack is a bit behind its level!” Yang Qi stared at the dagger and pondered for a while. “From my estimation, the ‘Spirit’ attribute might only show its effect when you reach level 30. At the slowest, I don’t think it will be after level 50!”
“No way!?” Lin Zheng’s eyes widened. “If it’s really like Yang Qi said, what’s the point of this dagger? You know, I still have a ‘shattered moon’ in my inventory, and its base attack is leagues ahead of this dagger! And its bonus attributes are pretty good too!”
“I advise you to keep this dagger!” Yang Qi said, uncharacteristically serious. “The officials have no information at all about the ‘Spirit’ attribute. What does that mean? It means the confidentiality level of this attribute is very high! An attribute worth such secrecy, where do you think it could be bad? Of course, I’m just saying; if you’re worried about the experience, then feel free to destroy it!”
“Damn it! You say that, and how can I bear to destroy it!” Lin Zheng said, annoyed. “Forget it, it’s just 20% experience, I can afford it! Damn it, if it doesn’t grow into a powerful attribute in the end, I’ll die of regret!”
“With your heaven-defying luck, I doubt it’ll even grow into trash!” Yang Qi teased. “Alright, it’s time to go to the second floor. I hope this second floor also has a good monster spawning spot! Otherwise, it’ll be hard to sleep tonight!”
After preparing, the group cautiously traversed a slope and arrived at the second floor of Frost Crystal Cave.
“You have entered the second floor of Frost Crystal Cave. The power of ice here is dense. Those with less than 30 Ice Resistance will continuously take damage!”
Hearing the prompt, Lin Zheng and the others couldn’t help but glance at each other. No wonder many of the equipment dropped on the first floor had added Ice Resistance; it was for preparing for later exploration!
Lin Zheng’s Ice Resistance was 100, which was more than enough to resist the ice damage here! The others’ Ice Resistance wasn’t low either, but Youxi, who hadn’t changed any equipment, kept taking -30 damage.
Seeing this, they quickly found several pieces of Ice Resistance equipment that Youxi could use and stacked Youxi’s Ice Resistance to 80 points in one go, which stopped her from losing blood.
Relieved, everyone finally had time to properly investigate the situation on the second floor.
Continuing through a passage, their vision suddenly opened up! A world of frost appeared before them, with oddly shaped ice crystals, large and small, adorning the second floor of Frost Crystal Cave like a crystal palace.
“Wow! It’s truly beautiful!” Lilith looked at the scenery on the second floor with dreamy eyes, and Xiao Meng was also captivated. Girls all love such dreamlike scenes!
Seeing this, Lin Zheng couldn’t help but look back at Youxi. What was Youxi’s reaction to this scenery? Lin Zheng was disappointed!
Youxi seemed oblivious to the scenery before her. Seeing Lin Zheng looking at her, Youxi blinked, as if asking Lin Zheng, “Is something wrong?”
Lin Zheng helplessly patted Youxi’s head to indicate that nothing was wrong, and at that moment, Xiao Meng suddenly screamed!
“Ah—! What is that thing!” Xiao Meng shrieked, hiding beside Lin Zheng. Yang Qi looked in the direction Xiao Meng pointed and discovered that lurking among the ice crystals were skeletal figures made of ice, seemingly the guardians of the second floor!
Since the monsters’ level was too high, the task of investigation fell to Lin Zheng. Lin Zheng put on his mask to investigate, and the data was obtained:
Ice Ape Bone Spirit: Level 40 (Elite) Physical Attack 500-686, Physical Defense 380, Magic Defense 250, HP 3500.
The Ice Apes sought greater power and ventured deep into Frost Crystal Cave but ultimately perished. Their bodies were corroded by the power of frost crystals, transforming them into Ice Ape Bone Spirits. Their attacks carry powerful frost crystal energy.
“According to the description, this monster’s attacks should be ice-attributed, and it’s very likely to have a slowing effect. Hmm, in any case, I’ll pull one first to see its attack frequency!”
With that, Yang Qi drew her Black Crow Sword and charged out. With a “Furious Slash,” she dealt 980 damage to an Ice Ape Bone Spirit. The Ice Ape Bone Spirit immediately counterattacked, clawing at Yang Qi.
Yang Qi wanted to test the monster’s attack effect, so she didn’t try to dodge and took the hit: -56! The ice-attributed attack, in front of Yang Qi, who had 100 Ice Resistance, only dealt this pitiful amount of damage!
But the next moment, Yang Qi’s expression changed. “The Ice Ape Bone Spirit’s attack has inflicted ‘Armor Break’ status on you. Under this status, defense is reduced by 80% for ten seconds!”
“Damn it! It’s not a slow effect! It’s Armor Break! Defense reduced by 80%, that’s too abnormal!” Yang Qi shouted. Careless for a moment, she was clawed by the Ice Ape Bone Spirit again. This time, the damage reached 520 points!
Lin Zheng and the others’ eyes widened instantly; the difference in damage before and after was too outrageous! After quickly killing the Ice Ape Bone Spirit, Yang Qi ran back, saying with lingering fear, “This monster is too shameless. Good thing I only pulled one; if I had pulled more, I would have been screwed! These damned monkeys, they still try to trick people even after dying!”