Eagle-eyed was a Famous General Skill that increased both attack range and attack power. This was scary because an archer party led by such a Famous General could conceal themselves in advantageous terrains like forests and hills and snipe at their opponents from afar. They could kill their opponents before they even caught sight of them. How scary was that?

Execution was equally scary. A chance to execute an opponent when they were 20% HP or below might not seem much, but for highly skilled players like me, Candlelight Shadow, and Farewell Song, we usually clinched our victories around that HP range. Execution would drastically reduce the usability of my Tenacity of the Dead for example, as I could be executed before I used the skill. It was a headache to say the least.

Motherfucker. It looked like the wheels of fortune had turned, and it was finally Candle Dragon’s turn to pick up two excellent Famous General Skills. Moreover, one must pick up a Famous General Skill first before they could get a Divine General Skill, so these were all immediately deployable power and investment capital for the future. Like it or not, Candlelight Shadow’s trump cards were growing for sure.

……

Oh well. It wasn’t like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were slouches. Even if Candle Dragon gained two new Famous Generals, they still couldn't beat us unless they found a way to overcome our cavalry. Everyone’s levels were growing everyday, and our guild was expecting several thousand players to hit Level 150 and complete their sixth promotion quests within the week. What this meant was that a large majority of elite warriors such as Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and more would finally be able to ride a mount. They had suffered long and hard as foot soldiers, and it was finally time for them to be promoted to a knight. Speaking of which, I think Li Chengfeng is Level 150 already.

I hung up. There was no way to stop another guild from growing their power, so the next best thing was to increase our own power and maybe even produce a couple of Divine Generals as soon as possible. Only then could our guild persevere and continue their fight against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance.

The Armored Ice Qilin Horse had infinite stamina, and the Black Coast was in sight less than ten minutes after I took off. Just as I expected, a ton of unmoving sea turtles with blood-red names were lying on the shore. It would be unwise to take their slowness as weakness, however. These giant beasts were as slow as they were powerful, and they could kill their prey in just the blink of an eye.

The Phantom Wolf King stayed close to me as a low, guttural growl escaped its throat.

At the front, I saw about a hundred players gathered at an empty spot near the beach. There were potion sellers, equipment sellers, and more. It was a temporary camp and a safe zone set up by the NPCs, so PK was forbidden in this place. A lot of players came here to form parties, trade, and more.

It was at this moment a Level 142 warrior walked up to me. He was a member of Peach Garden. "Hey there, friend! I can’t see your level, so it must mean you’re over Level 147, right? Tsk tsk, impressive. Anyway, did you come to Black Coast alone? If so, are you interested in partying up with us and grinding the sea turtles? There’s a chance a Level 175 Earth Rank Sea Turtle King might spawn in this location. You might be devoured if you’re alone and careless. Come on, we’re just 1 person short of a full party. We have 2 tanks, 5 damage dealers, and 2 healers. If you join us, we’ll have exactly the right party composition to deal with anything on this map, including the Sea Turtle King. We also have Encourage VII!"

Logically speaking, a 10-man party was the most scientific party one could make for grinding. It was just the right amount of people to ensure high grinding efficiency and a good influx of experience. Even if you could make a bigger party, it wouldn’t necessarily improve grinding efficiency, and the experience you get would definitely be too little to be worth it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested in partying up with them. For starters, they would suspect my identity the second I did work. I could deal over 20k damage to these sea turtles with a basic attack, while they could only do between 3000 to 5000. In fact, anyone who could deal over 6000 damage to these mobs would be worshipped as experts by the casuals.

So I shook my head and replied smilingly, "Sorry, but I’m not here to grind. I’m here to farm some sea turtle meat and get some money out of it."

"Oh, you’re a hunter! Hehe, sure, no problem. There’s no point in forcing you to do something you don’t want to. See you later, and be safe out there!"

"Mn, thanks. You too!"

……

I turned away and continued toward my destination.

This Level 142 warrior seemed like a good person. There was a saying that a king’s personality was reflected by his people, and this was definitely the case for Peach Garden. Their guild leader, Indigo Collar, was a righteous and hot-blooded person. Although Peach Garden was far inferior to Candle Dragon, Indigo Collar had never given up on trying to compete against the hegemon. On the other hand, an arrogant fool like Roaming Dragon could only raise an equally arrogant guild like Mad Dragon.

That being said, Mad Dragon still managed to place 20+ or so on the CGL Guild Ranking, so the RMB he spent definitely hadn't gone to waste. Of course, Roaming Dragon’s expenditure was nowhere close to Wang Dongliang’s or Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch’s, and their respective placements were a reflection of that.

The Phantom Wolf King roared, and I activated Charge. We both dashed toward an Alligator Sea Turtle on the beach!

Swhoosh!

I slashed it three times in a row after lightning surrounded the Level 170 ancient mob and stunned it. The sea turtle’s thick shell was incapable of blocking my blade at all, and I dealt at least 15k damage per hit. The damage numbers rising above the mob were a pleasing sight to see.

I quickly searched for my next target after destroying my first opponent. The sea turtles were scattered sparsely throughout the beach, but each one gave a ton of experience. It was no wonder that Black Coast was brought up a lot in the forums and nicknamed the grind haven for five-man or ten-man parties. Any lower than that, and you would have to be a Famous General to survive this place. After all, these Level 170 Alligator Sea Turtles could bite even me for almost 3000 damage. It could only be worse for another player.

……

I grinded until almost 4 pm when a player called Rose suddenly sent me a friend request. I checked out her avatar, and as expected it was a beautiful elf player with a very familiar face. She was the team manager of our roster, Rose. She was only Level 120+ though. As the team manager, it was her duty to find out everything about the game, but she didn’t have anyone to help her. Knowing that, I found it impressive that she was able to increase her level this much in just a month.

"Hi, Lu Chen! It’s me!" Rose messaged me.

"Mn. Good evening, Rose. :)"

"Are you busy right now?"

"No. What’s wrong?"

"Lenovo is holding a gathering at the second floor of Zijing Hotel 6:30 pm tonight. A total of 17 players including you are expected to attend. Can you, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue arrive on time? I promised the CEO that all of you will show up, so please don’t make me break my word…"

Dumbfounded, I complained, "Rose, you should’ve spoken to us first."

"Hehe, come on, you have to show up, please? If you don’t I’ll harass you over the phone all night!"

"Fine, fine, you got me. Have you told Eve, Sister Mingyue, and Beiming about this already?"

"Yep!"

"Okay then, see you tonight!"

"You don’t need to drive over; a car will arrive at your apartment at 6:10 pm tonight."

"Good!"

……

I hung up and went back to the grind. Tsk tsk, who would’ve thought that I would have a driver one day? So far, Lenovo definitely seemed sincere about our agreement.

The Alligator Sea Turtles gave good experience, and the item drop rate was acceptable. After two hours of grinding, I got a pair of 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade metal wristguards and a bunch of common Gold, Silver, and Dark Steel–grade equipment. It was an okay amount of loot all things considered. Moreover, the Alligator Sea Turtles dropped a Rank 10 armorsmithing material called Alligator Shell. When I sent a screenshot of the material to Yamete, the guy immediately brightened up like a light bulb. "Hahaha, you saved me again, Lu Chen! This is exactly the material I’m lacking right now! I tried asking Little Gui and Li Chengfeng to help me with this, but they eventually gave up because the Alligator Sea Turtles were too strong for them to fight solo at the time, and the drop rate was too low for it to be worth the effort. How many Alligator Shells do you have, by the way?"

"12. Why?"

“12? Holy fuck, that’s amazing!" Yamete laughed heartily. "I can forge a Blood Alligator Battle Armor with just 3. Here, take a look at its stats!"

Yamete sent me a stats screen immediately, and it was as good as he claimed it was—

Blood Alligator Battle Armor (Spirit-grade, Outstanding★)

Defense: 720

Magic Resist: 550

Strength: +125

Stamina: +130

Tactics: +27

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 13%

Passive: Increases user's max HP by 1200

Outstanding Property: Mad Assault, increases user’s attack power and attack speed by 10%

Slots: 2

Level Requirement: 145

……

"It is pretty good!" I agreed with a smile.

Yamete laughed proudly. "Of course! This is a master-grade armor we’re talking about! I’ve forged 5 Blood Alligator Battle Armors so far, and this is only the third best crafting result. The best one added 21% Defense and 2300 max HP in total, and it’s worn by High Fighting Spirits right now!"

"Mn, not bad at all. Keep it up! I’ll give you all the Alligator Shells I got later!"

"Yeah, you too!"

……

This time, I made sure to use Death Plunder on every mob I killed. As expected, they almost always gave me an Alligator Shell. By almost 6 pm, I had collected a total of 65 Alligator Shells, and they were all of different quality. In general, the higher the quality of a material, the higher the chances Yamete could forge a great armor with it.

……

Beep!

It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message: "Hey, it’s almost time to attend the Lenovo gathering. Mingyue and I also have to head back to Yulifang’s subsidiary company after that."

"Got it. I’ll be out in a jiffy!"

I teleported back to the city and summoned Yamete. When he saw the 65 Alligator Shells I collected, he was so happy he couldn’t close his jaw.

……

I logged out of the game, took off my gaming helmet and ran out of the room.

The girls dressed up specifically for the upcoming feast… or on the second thought, maybe not. They always dressed excellently, regardless of the occasion.