Squelch!

Another Cyan Battle Tiger fell to my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I pierced its stomach with Universe Break. Although I was fighting them one by one, my grinding speed was pretty quick. I had killed almost a hundred mobs in less than half an hour, meaning that I could complete my quest in another four to five hours tops. Once Gui Guzi and the others had arrived, I would move to a different location and maintain my current pace. The Level 162 shadow-rank mob was powerful, but it also gave a lot of experience.

It was at this moment a system notification across all the main cities—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "Heaven’s Rain (Wind City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Forest Plunderer, and reached Level 127. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General, becoming the twenty-eighth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and a Famous General Skill, "Knight General"!

Knight General: Increases Attack and Defense of all mounted players in the party by 25%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players.

……

Knight General?

I paused for a moment. Knight General was basically the poor man’s version of Gui Guzi’s Knight God! Although its stat boosts were halved, it was still an incredibly powerful Famous General Skill. Ignoring other stats such as HP and Agility for the moment, a 25% boost to Attack and Defense was almost the same as Lin Yixin’s Bombshell to a pure mounted player.

In the future battles for supremacy, most players, including warriors, would hit Level 150 and be able to ride a mount. Cavalry charges would become the core DPS of all wars, and almost every guild would strive to build their own flavor of cavalry troops. When that day came, players with Knight General would become very important. Knight God was super strong, but Gui Guzi was only one person and could only buff one party. Therefore, the more players with Famous General Skill that buffed mounted players we could recruit, the better.

I brought up the friend interface and entered Heaven’s Rain into the search bar immediately. Looking at her profile, Heaven’s Rain was a beautiful magic knight. I then sent her a friend request that was accepted about a second later. Not daring to dilly dally for even a second—the pain of missing out on Lin Bing Dou Zhe still fresh in the memory—I sent Heaven’s Rain a call request immediately.

Ding! The call was connected, and a feminine, nervous voice came from the other side. "Aaoh? Is… is this Falling Dust?"

I looked at Heaven’s Rain avatar. The girl was very cute, and looking at the background she seemed to be standing in the middle of a forest. She was probably eighteen years old because her features still retained their childish, innocent charm. I nodded and smiled at her. "Yep, it’s me. Hello, Heaven’s Rain!"

"Hi. Did you need something from me, big bro?" Heaven’s Rain was wearing a dumb smile on her face. "I’ve known about you for a long time now. You’ve always been my idol, big bro. Candlelight Shadow is strong, but he’s also too scary. You are the true expert between the two of you, big bro!"

I smiled. Well, this makes things a lot easier.

"Sooooo…" I purposely dragged out the word for a bit before diving to the point, "Little Rain, the main reason I added you as a friend is to ask you if you’d be willing to join our guild."

"Ah?!"

Heaven’s Rain let out an exclamation of shock. She murmured, "Personally I really want to join your guild, Falling Dust, but… I’ve already promised my friends to join their guild. Ah, what should I do? Do you think I should speak with them first?"

I thought for a moment before asking, "How big is this guild?"

"7 members…"

"Fuck!" I almost puked blood when I heard that. "You can all join us. Your friends can contact Amazing Expert and join Bloody Mercenaries, while you will join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How does that sound?"

"Can I check with them first?"

"Sure!"

A few seconds later, Heaven’s Rain said excitedly, "Done. They’re all willing to join Bloody Mercenaries, and they all agree that there’s no future for me, a Famous General, staying in a small guild. By the way, er, can I meet you in person after joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Falling Dust?"

"Sure. Where do you live?"

"Jiaxing, Zhejiang."

"Are you still studying?"

"Yes."

"Okay, come to Suzhou when you’re free and visit the guild’s gaming base. Speak to Gui Guzi or Xu Yang, and they’ll take you to me!"

"Okay! It’s a promise!"

"It’s a promise!" I smiled again before continuing, "Alright, let’s get to business, shall we? Please leave your original guild now so I can send you a guild invitation. It’s a bit early, but I would like to introduce you to everyone!"

"Mn, mn! Thank you, big bro!"

I sent Heaven’s Rain the guild invitation, and she accepted it quickly. The next moment, everyone in the guild received a guild notification: "Player ‘Heaven’s Rain’ has joined the guild. Let us fight for a glorious future together!

……

The guild channel erupted at once—

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Aiya, Heaven’s Rain, the Wind City girl who just became a Famous General, right? How did she join the guild this quickly?"

Li Chengfeng: "Hahaha, welcome, welcome! Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Beauty Rain!"

Gui Guzi: "Welcome! Welcome very much!"

Chaos Moon: "Yo, Beauty Rain! Talk to us so we know you’re there, please?"

Heaven’s Rain picked her words carefully as she spoke in a soft voice, "Er… it’s big bro, I mean Falling Dust, who recruited me. I’m a newcomer, so please take care of me, everyone…"

High Fighting Spirits: "Haha, what a cute and innocent little sister! Just call me Fighting Spirits! Big bro is fine too if you want, haha!"

I projected my glare into the guild channel. "What the hell Fighting Spirits, control yourself! You’re going to scare her!"

Heaven’s Rain burst into a giggle. "Oh, there are so, so many famous people here… in the past I could only stare at these IDs in the ranking list or the official news, but now you’re actually talking to me…"

Li Chengfeng laughed. "Chill out, Little Rain! Remember, the 7th CGL ranker and the Little Heavenly King, Falling Dust himself, personally invited you to join his guild. This is an honor few people in the guild got! Us talking to you is nothing compared to that! By the way, if you want you can join my party right now. I can chat with you for 24 hours straight if you want, no log-offs…"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Little Rain, do you have a QQ account?"

Heaven’s Rain: "Er… I haven’t added anyone on my QQ account for a long time."

Xu Yang asked with a grin, "Little Rain, do you have a boyfriend?"

Heaven’s Rain: "No… why?"

Rolling my eyes, I said, "I’m busy, chat with you all later!"

Heaven’s Rain: "Okay. Remember our promise, big bro! I’ll come visit you one day!"

"Got it…"

……

I closed the guild interface. Heaven’s Rain’s arrival to the guild was like dropping a piece of fresh meat in the middle of a pack of wolves. Most people wouldn’t be able withstand the onslaught. But if they did survive, then they would become immune to any form of harassment in the future. Train well, Heaven’s Rain!

With that done, I went back to killing the Cyan Battle Tigers.

A while later, Gui Guzi and the gang finally appeared at the edge of the forest. He raised his Rainbow Spear and greeted me from afar, "We have arrived, boss Broken Halberd! Haha!"

I pointed to the east and said, "There are two Rare mounts in that direction. There’s no need to worry about the common mobs because I’ve cleared them out already. After that, reform your party and grind the Cyan Battle Tigers while you search for new mounts. This way you’ll level and gain new mounts at the same time!"

"Okay!"

Gui Guzi laughed again before leaving with the Fireblade Cavalry. I continued to fight the Cyan Battle Tigers for a while until Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun showed up with a ferocious-looking Cyan Battle Tiger beneath his legs. He was now twice as tall and looking mighty impressive. He swung his blade once before letting out a laugh, "Vice leader, how do I look? I look good, don’t I?"

I nodded. "Heh, yes you do. Keep up the good work. Let’s try and equip 100, no, 1000 players with Cyan Battle Tigers! We will make a fearsome cavalry troop!"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun smiled widely. "Don’t worry, boss! I checked the map briefly, and considering its size, I’m fairly confident it can accommodate 1000 Cyan Battle Tiger mounts or more! Speaking of which, these big cats are seriously impressive. It was super easy to grind the mobs after mounting them!"

I smiled. "Good. Now go. Once you’ve captured the first 100 Cyan Battle Tiger mounts, tell the rest of our mounted players in our guild to come over immediately. We must sweep the entire Cyan Tiger Forest in three days max so that our enemies can’t steal a piece of the pie!"

"Got it. See you later!"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun left, and I went back to the grind.

……

Time passed bit by bit. Every time Gui Guzi’s party found a Rare Cyan Battle Tiger mount, a magic knight who was Level 125 or above would head over to tame it. Everyone’s level was pretty high at this point. The Top 100 players on the Heavenly Ranking was Level 131 and above, and players between Level 125 to Level 130 were everywhere. There were at least seventy thousand players who were Level 125 and above in Sky City, and in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, over 40% of our mounted players were Level 125 and above. Therefore, my order to make a thousand-man-strong Cyan Battle Tiger cavalry troop was definitely not a pipedream.

By 5 pm or so, I had killed the last Cyan Battle Tiger I needed to complete the quest. It was an exhilarating grind all things considered, and my experience had risen by 40% or so. I was now a step closer to Level 141. Considering my current DPS and grinding efficiency, leveling once per day shouldn’t be too difficult. With luck, I might be able to reach Level 150 in half a month. When that happened, I could either get a Cyan Battle Tiger as a mount or a better one. One way or another, my overall power would skyrocket for sure.

The quest was done, so it was time to turn it in to Zatch the God Hunter. I was really looking forward to this mysterious reward he promised.

I trekked through the forest for about ten minutes before reaching the quest marker. After I parted a shrubbery blocking my sight, I immediately saw the weakened God Hunter still lying atop the thorns and looking completely dazed. However, his despairing eyes immediately lit up with hope when he saw me, and he abruptly sat up and let out a laugh. "Young man, I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me. Have you brought me the Cyan Tiger Teeth?"

"Yes!"

I passed him the one hundred poisonous tiger teeth in my bag. The God Hunter’s arms were shaking as he hugged the teeth. "Finally, I’ve gotten all the poisonous teeth I need. One more step, and I’ll be saved…"