In the new workshop, Beiming Xue and I were the gold farmers. As a super metal armor knight, He Yi’s equipment’s repair costs were exorbitant. We simply couldn’t trust her with farming items to make money. Murong Mingyue, on the other hand, was a priest that used MP like water. The cost of the required Magic Consumables wasn’t something any ordinary player could possibly afford. This was also the reason why there weren’t many high-level priests and mages in Floating Cloud City. They were the two money-burning classes, so without a strong backer helping them with expenditures, it was impossible to raise them to a high level.

In this case, my responsibilities were greater than usual. I had to quickly show the Cooking God’s money-making potential and make a few more consumables for sale to provide for the three girls at home.

……

Half an hour later, I arrived at the borders of Frost Forest. The roars of high-level Greedy Wolves came from afar, blood-red dots of light flashing within the greenery. Those were the eyes of the Greedy Wolves. Although these Level 75 mobs had a decent drop rate and experience, no players at the current stage of the game would dare to come here.

Greedy Wolves were pack monsters that traveled in groups of three or more. The average player level nowadays was between 50–60. In Floating Ice City, third promotion players were considered experts and there were only a handful that were Level 70 and higher. Unless they were one of the Top 10 on the Heavenly Ranking who could barely manage to grind Level 75 Greedy Wolves, typical parties probably had a 90% chance of dying here.

I continued onward until I suddenly heard sounds of battle from up ahead. I quickly ran closer and brushed aside the dense leaves around me. To my surprise, a 20-man party was standing in an open space, fighting against a few frenzied bears that were Level 75. Wild Bears were famous for their explosive power. They had extremely high Attack, but they also were on the slower side. In terms of overall DPS, even wolves dealt more damage in comparison.

Bang!

A paw fiercely swatted down, forcing a broadsword-wielding warrior back several steps. This Level 70 warrior was pretty good himself since he instantly went up again after getting pushed away. With a sweep of his sword, Blaze closely locked onto the Wild Bear, attracting its aggro. Though more than 700 of his HP had been slapped away, the fight was pretty safe with three priests at the rear giving him heals.

I frowned. Fuck, is this the famous “meeting enemies on a narrow road” or what? How’d I meet them here?

A party of 20 split into two teams, Flower Room guild’s emblem visible on their shoulders. Speaking of which, Flower Room’s emblem was a food for thought. Between a few peach blossoms was an S-type design that looked shockingly similar to a woman’s curves. The flowers naturally emphasized its enchanting shape.

The Level 70 warrior was none other than Spring Mud, and hidden behind him were other high-level players of his guild. However, one figure among them caught my undivided attention. It was One True Love!

One True Love had already returned to Wuxi after his trip to Suzhou?

Beiming Xue was as pure as paper. Although One True Love was in a convenient position, he couldn’t get her. The only thing that resulted from his trip was an imprint of my fist on his face; quite a tragedy. However, I wasn’t in the wrong. As a hooligan that could only put on airs and flirt with girls, he totally didn’t deserve Beiming Xue!

……

I didn’t take any action and just watched the group grind. To be honest, I’m not really a PvP enthusiast. As long as they don’t bother me, I won’t bother them either! Haha!

I observed them at a close range and listened in on some of their conversation—

One True Love: Haha, Brother Spring Mud’s so strong, We couldn’t fend off these Wild Bears with the few of us but you can tank it all by yourself! Your Defense and HP are so high, as expected of our Flower Room’s number one meatshield!”

Spring Mud was in a good mood. “Yeah, they are not bad. I got a Level 65 Gold-grade weapon and a Level 63 Dark Gold–grade armor yesterday. My Defense is over 600 now so these Level 75 Wild Bears are nothing to me!”

One True Love grinned. “Awesome!”

Spring Mud’s strike jolted the Wild Bear back. He then turned around and asked, “Chen Sheng I heard that you went to Suzhou for Beiming Xue? You actually know that dark archer?”

One True Love’s expression sharpened. He shouted, “That little bitch!”

“What do you mean?” Spring Mud’s gaze turned cold.

One True Love’s lips curled as hatred flashed in his eyes. “When I went to Ancient Sword’s base, I found out that Beiming Xue was no longer the Beiming Xue I knew. She’s actually with Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand now. Hmph, boss is right, women are indeed fickle creatures. I seriously regret not forcibly making her mine!”

Spring Mud coldly laughed. “Rape? Is that even interesting? Hmph, I’m gonna get that bastard Lu Chen sooner or later. Fuck. Does he think he’s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ savior or something? I’m gonna let From Water, Eve, know that Lu Chen is nothing!”

One True Love gritted his teeth. “Spring Mud, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is Flower Room’s number one enemy, right?”

Spring Mud nodded. “Right, I can’t wait to fucking destroy the shit out of Lu Chen, Gui Guzi, and Xu Yang. If I don’t avenge myself, I swear I’m not human! The Ego workshop has never suffered this kind of humiliation. I’ll take back whatever they owe me twofold!

One True Love’s eyes were filled with excitement. “Spring Mud, just from those words alone, we’re brothers from now on!”

“Haha!”

Spring Mud killed the Wild Bear with his next strike and said coldly, “Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is currently at its peak because it’s already at Rank 3. We need to be patient. Don’t worry, our guilds will clash sooner or later. Don’t forget, our guild leader Young Master Le is a student at Suzhou Tech. He’s set his sights on goddess Wind Fantasy, and she also has a good relationship with Lu Chen. We have both new and old grudges with him, so this debt can only be paid in blood!”

One True Love nodded, but a hint of worry slithered through his eyes. “Why hasn’t our leader arrived yet with reinforcements? It wasn’t easy for us to find a new map. We can’t let anyone snatch it away.”

Spring Mud smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll take one hour max before a thousand-man team comes charging over. The tower in the lake is ours, no one can snatch it from us!”

“Mn!”

……

My heart skipped a beat. Tower in the lake? What map is that? What do they mean?

Whoosh!

I summoned the Dark Wasp. I’ve made my resolve to exterminate them all. One True Love, Spring Mud, and their team numbered only twenty people. No matter how powerful their mages were, they didn’t have any high-level archers. With an element of surprise on my side, I should be able to kill them all. Traitor Spring Mud aside, that Chen Sheng was complete trash. Who did he think our Lil Beiming was? Rape? That little piece of shit. Enough was enough!

However, I had second thoughts when I realized that I couldn’t deal any fatal damage to their guild, even if I disposed of their small team. Even then, I would be met with their first important full-force mobilization. It had something to do with that “tower in the lake” thing. I wondered if it was a high-level map.

It has to be, or else Li Le wouldn’t be moving a thousand-man team here.

After weighing in the pros and cons, I finally made my decision. I’ll keep these guys alive first. It’d be brainless to alert the enemy before the time was ripe. I might be a bit hot-headed at times, like when Beiming Xue was getting bullied by Chen Sheng, but I was still able to control myself in the game. I have to hit them where it hurts, and I don’t have to make a move now.

……

Once I made up my mind, I opened the world map and saw a lake region in front of me. The tower had to be somewhere there.

I circled around the party and then made a run for it. Not even ten minutes later, the faint smell of fresh lakewater floated over.

Ding~!

System Notice: You have entered a neutral map—Dragonfall Lake!

……

I parted the forest leaves and a boundless lake came into view. The lakeshore was full of reeds, with enough cattails to make a forest. The lakewater rippled under the moonlight, reflecting clear water.

I grimaced. Players entering a water region could swim, but if it was deep enough, a breath meter would appear. Once said breath meter ran out, a player would drown. This lake was extremely deep. The chances of dying were high if I went in!

I gazed into the distance and could faintly see an island in the middle of the lake under the moonlight. On the island was a lone, pitch-black, tower. That was the tower in the lake!

There was no doubt that it was an unexplored map. There was no data on the official forums when I searched Dragonfall Lake or this tower in the lake.

I shouldn’t worry yet. Since I couldn’t find a passageway, then those guys from Flower Room wouldn’t find it either.

I didn’t dare to walk around the lake. It’d be too easy for me to get discovered. With Spring Mud’s shrewdness, there had to be assassins patrolling the lake. My intentions would be exposed the moment I was found.

I traveled through the forest area beside the lake and encountered some tree fairy–type monsters there. I pretty much ignored most of them by circling around. Those that I couldn’t, I cut down. In tandem with my Dark Wasp’s damage potential, killing a few trash mobs under Level 80 wasn’t too hard a task.

Ten minutes or so later, a little bloody patch suddenly appeared in front of me on the map, making me wild with delight. I finally found a temporary NPC camp beneath the mountain range.

I started a mad dash through the dense forest and to my surprise, the crude camp before me wasn’t a Night Creature encampment, but a Blood Dance Legion one!

An aged skeleton mage stood under a simple tent and on both of his sides stood armored undead knights. There was also an alchemist sitting by a furnace concocting some kind of smelly potion.

All of the four NPCs’ shoulders were adorned with the emblem of the Blood Dance Legion. I also had the same one on my shoulder but I was way cooler because I had Blood Dance Legion’s, Floating Ice City’s, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’. Neatly lined up in a row, they made me look like some five-star general.

The old skeleton mage trembled in place as it leaned on its bone staff. It looked at a loss and a line of words floated above its head.

Prophet Bly (Dark Gold Rank Boss)

Level: 85

Introduction: Former court mage of the Violet Empire. After the destruction of the Violet Empire, Prophet Bly was killed and became an undead mage. However, this great magician’s loyalty never wavered. Determined to assist Violet Empire’s Princess Sophia, he volunteered for the heavy responsibility of a frontline scout commander.