"Alright!"

I let out a smug grin as I looked at the spoils of war on the ground and threw some choice equipment into my inventory. I then hefted my Cyan Netherworld Sword over my shoulder in excitement and anticipation. Yup, it’s time to get my sixth class promotion quest.

Unfortunately, my trainer was an undead mage and not an undead swordsman. Thus, I would be unable to learn melee skills of the Warrior class.

Ahh, nevermind all that. There surely must be a reward for the first ever warrior player to get a class promotion!

My trainer was located at the peak of the Dragonbone Mountain Range, a ten-minute travel from where I currently was. Alright, I’ll just walk there!

I urged the Broadback War Elephant forward as I gripped my Cyan Netherworld Sword in one hand. Laughing heartily, I said, "Let’s go!"

The Broadback War Elephant moved much faster than I did. Moreover, the elephant added 8000 HP and increased my Attack by 27%. The added stats made me so much more powerful! Having a mount is so much better, I feel like a completely different person!

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

The ground vibrated as the Broadback War Elephant made its way up the Dragonbone Mountain Range to the peak of the Snow Domain step by step. Its shockingly large footprints left deep imprints in the snow with each step it took. What a goddamn monster.

The elephant had an extremely broad back. I could ride on the elephant in any position I wanted to and even do a little dance on it without worrying that I would fall off its back.

I continued my journey on the elephant’s back as I saw my destination growing closer and closer. I dismounted after reaching the peak and ran to my trainer, Rinser, who looked so fragile as he trembled in the cold. He noticed me and spoke in a low voice, "My beloved disciple is finally back. Let me see how powerful you have become!"

I stared at him and replied, "Trainer, I’ve come for my class promotion. I want… I want to become an even more powerful swordsman!"

"Oh, I see..."

Rinser’s words trailed off as he scratched his scarred head. After a long while, he let out a sigh and replied, "Pity, because I’m an undead mage specialized in elemental magic. I have nothing to teach you in the field of swordplay. However, you still have to complete the next part of your training. It is then that I will pass you this skill book that I went through great pains to scam from Sword Saint Andrew. But only if I deem you worthy after your training is complete!”

"Oh?"

My eyes lit up when Rinser said that he had scammed a high-level attack skill book from someone called the Sword Saint. Awesome! Tsk tsk! This trainer is definitely better than that Undead Swordsman Suren!

"Yes master! What kind of training shall I undergo next?" I asked excitedly as my sixth class promotion was right around the corner!

Rinser coughed and let out an embarrassed smile before replying, "You are now powerful enough to cultivate the Earthfire Realm. Go there and proceed with your training. Eliminate 500 players in the continent, it doesn’t matter if they are good or bad. Your courage and strength will be proven once your blade is drenched with the souls of the dead. When that happens, come back to me and you will get your class promotion!"

Ding~!

System Notice: You’ve accepted the quest [Earthfire Realm Promotion]! (Current Quest Rank: SS)

Description: Kill any 500 random players and then return to Rinser. You will then be qualified for the Earthfire Realm Promotion and will trigger a chance for ‘Great Earth Transformation’.

……

Alright! The Earthfire Realm was a completely new system. It was a whole new realm for the sixth class promotion, which sets it apart from the previous class promotions. Players who have reached Level 150 and have successfully gained their sixth class promotion would be able to step into the Earthfire Realm. In that realm, their hidden abilities would not only be multiplied, many other benefits will also be given to them.

One of the benefits I knew about included guild rank expansion if the player was a guild leader. The player could sacrifice his or her Reputation in exchange for the guild rank increase. This could result in guild growing to Rank 7, increasing the number of slots to 50000. The very thought of such an army made a shiver run down my spine.

It would be awesome if the upper limit of the number of members in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was increased so much. I would totally be able to form a 30000-strong mounted cavalry! And when that happens, we would usher in the era of riders!

I was beyond excited to start the quest. Alright, I have to go down the mountain and kill 500 players. It isn’t a large number, but neither is it a small one. I have the Broadback War Elephant with me. It boosts offensive and defensive capabilities, so it’s definitely doable!

I opened up the guild channel and asked, "Hey is everyone grinding hard? Is anyone PvPing right now? I’ll be glad to help!"

Li Chengfeng asked in a flabbergasted voice, "OMG, aren’t you busy leveling up? Why are you looking for a PvP session?"

Chaos Moon giggled. "Lu Chen is in a bloodthirsty mood. The girls around him probably got him frustrated so he needs to take it out on others. How despicable…"

I replied gloomily, "What do you mean by frustrated? I have a very optimistic personality! No one can get me frustrated..."

Chaos Moon snorted and burst out into laughter.

Gui Guzi answered, "Boss Broken Halberd wants to PvP? You’re in luck. Cute Little Naughty just PMed me and said that the eighth subguild was attacked by some guild called ‘God's Mercenaries’ in Sky Forest. Even though they have almost a thousand members in their guild, they’re not high-level players. Most of the players are not even Level 120."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Are they crazy? How dare they attack our eighth subguild with such low-level players. The members in Little Naughty’s guild are definitely not so weak!"

Gui Guzi laughed and replied, "That’s right. But Little Naughty had only brought a hundred players with her to grind while the opponent has almost a thousand. They are currently being surrounded and are unable to escape. I’m forming a rescue team as we speak. Does Boss Broken Halberd want to come with us?"

I replied in a low voice, "You don’t have to go Little Gui. Send me their coordinates. I’ll go by myself!"

Xu Yang exclaimed, "Damn! Did you get hit on the head? How are you going to solo a thousand people? You’re clearly suicidal…"

I grinned and replied, "Do you think that a bunch of players that aren’t even Level 120 can pierce through my armor? Hehe. Look at my entire set of Heaven-grade and Earth-grade equipment. Do they look like decorations? Just you wait. I’ll be able to flatten them all on my own…"

My confidence left Xu Yang speechless. “Alright then…”

……

Soon, Gui Guzi announced his coordinates, which was right in Sky Forest. Going there would only take ten minutes and that place was a 125-meter area densely covered in shadow-rank mobs. It was no wonder Little Naughty and her party would encounter them there. As for why God's Mercenaries went to attack our eighth subguild, it was probably the thoughts of getting famous getting to their heads. They didn't dare touch the main guild so they made do with bothering the eighth sub guild. Then they’d probably post screenshots and videos on the official website forums with some ridiculous caption that said "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are nothing much" or something along those lines.

I crushed a return scroll and was sent to Sky City. Without wasting time, I instantly teleported to Floating City, the nearest teleportation point to Sky Forest. I gripped my sword and spurred the Broadback War Elephant to charge toward the coordinates on my map.

I reached the forest in less than ten minutes and heard combat sounds ringing out in the near distance. I charged toward the direction of the sounds and soon, a large group of densely packed players within the forest came into view. Each of them wore a crimson skull emblem on their shoulder. This must be God's Mercenaries. They do look like an intimidating bunch.

A Level 127 magic knight with a vice leader’s emblem on his shoulder raised his spear and pointed it toward Little Naughty. In a loud voice, he shouted, "Dammit! We’ll show Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls how powerful we are! God's Mercenaries may be a small guild but we will not let others trample our dignity! Slaughter them all! We’ll let all of Sky City know that we will not stand to be bullied and humiliated by others!"

Cute Little Naughty gripped her dagger in one hand, pointed her other toward the vice leader and shouted angrily, "How shameless of you! You’re the one who attacked us when all we did was just pass through this forest. How dare you accuse us of bullying you! Hmph! Does this patch of forest belong to you? How overbearing and hateful…"

The vice leader smirked and said, "That’s right, God's Mercenaries has been grinding here for a week! You’ll have to pay the price for stepping onto our property! Brothers and sisters, attack! They don’t have many on their side so we’ll be done with them if we all attack together!"

The enemy started to attack as their archers released their arrows and their mages casted their enchantments. Even though the enemy outnumbered them, Cute Little Naughty remained calm and collected. A bunch of our guild members ran to the thicket to take cover but they still couldn’t escape their demise. Arrows and spells rained down on them as they collapsed with a howl.

Boom!

Galaxy Storm exploded among a bunch of enemies as a few half-health God's Mercenaries players and they collapsed to the ground and died. The caster was a Level 138 mage, a pretty high level at this stage of the game.

Cute Little Naughty clutched her dagger and positioned herself in a fighting stance. She leaped forward and used Ambush + Blade Vortex, instantly killing three warriors with a beautiful combo. Little Naughty had pretty good equipment. Coupled with her impressive mechanics, these low-level players were clearly not her match.

……

I had no intentions to watch from the sidelines. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and grasped the Cyan Netherworld Sword in my hand. I then spurred the Broadback War Elephant and charged over from afar!

Swhoosh!

The massive war elephant slammed straight into a group of players and sent them flying through the air. The elephant showed no mercy on its opponents and trampled all over them while I executed Burning Blade Slash amid a large crowd of enemies. Glittering light rays popped up as various equipment pieces scattered all over the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With a swing of my sword, I unleashed three continuous arcs of raging flames but was momentarily shocked by what I saw. What the hell! My AoE attack’s radius had actually extended to as long as 15 yards! This increase in range is ridiculous! Originally, my Burning Blade Slash could only reach 5 yards in front of me, but now this range was tripled! Mounted players truly were the kings of the battlefield!

I wrecked havoc with my Burning Blade Slash as the players from God's Mercenaries collapsed to the ground one by one. Equipment and bottles of low-level potions started dropping like flies and covered the ground. What a penniless group.

My melee skills were long-range attacks now! The Cyan Netherworld Sword was able to release crescents of energy upon enemies within a 15-yard radius. Even when I focused my attacks on a single enemy, other players within the line of attack would also take damage, albeit halved. It was just… awesome! My power had skyrocketed!

Given my high Defense and HP, I was like a tiger in a sheep’s pen. My attacks were so powerful that no one dared to come close to me. They were all scared out of their wits and could only stare at me with eyes wide open.

"Fuck! Who is this guy? Such powerful attacks…"

"It’s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! This guy is placed 7th in the CGL Hall of Fame! How powerful!"

"Dammit all! How did this attract the attention of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ vice leader? How troublesome…"

……

The numbers on my quest screen increased steadily with each player that I killed. In the blink of an eye, I had already killed 98 players! Alright! Another few more minutes and I’ll be done with the quest!

Cute Little Naughty was overjoyed by my appearance. She chuckled and said, "Wow, Big Brother Lu Chen has come to save us! This is great! Let’s kill them all!"

Meanwhile, the dozen or so assassins that had been ambushing in the forest started to attack as they sliced through their enemies like hot knives cutting through butter.

However, the enemy numbers were simply overwhelming and I had been encircled by nearly a thousand of them! Arrows and magic spells rained down everywhere and I could not avoid getting hit. Devil Piercing Arrow and Dragon’s Roar were the worst as they dealt the greatest damage to me. Even though the enemy’s attacks were not fatal, their constant attacks from all sides caused my health to decrease rapidly.

Boom!

Thousand Ice Slash exploded amid a bunch of players and one-shot them. The Broadback War Elephant was so slow that a bunch of enemy riders easily outran it and started hacking at it. The enemy numbers were overwhelming, forcing me to retreat as I swung my swords in all directions. "Come at me! Come and kill me if you dare!"

As I had expected, a bunch of outraged bloodthirsty God's Mercenaries players started to charge at me.

At this moment, arrows started to rain down on the enemy. What a powerful attack!

Pew pew pew!

A dozen magic knights collapsed one by one as a string of damage numbers popped up from their heads. Everyone gasped in shock as each number that popped up was higher than 15000. Furthermore, the splash effect of those arrows was also extremely powerful.

Oh? Has a powerful archer come to aid me?

I swirled my head around and saw a beautiful succubi archer hiding behind some thick vines. She slowly walked out from her hiding place, allowing me to see her in the light. She had beautiful facial features, a pair of pointed ears, and held a shimmering longbow in one hand. She smiled sweetly at me and said, "Big bro, you suck so badly. To think that you can’t even defeat such low-level enemies…"