Chapter 404: Collecting Skeleton Bones
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Han Ying Xue quickly activated a {Rise Anew} on Zhang Yang.
The effect of the skill is very grand and pretty to see. A stream of white light blanketed over Zhang Yang, while tiny sized angels, looking a little like cupids, appeared dazzlingly all around Zhang Yang, singing and dancing for 10 seconds long before everything vanished.
"This skill can be upgraded, and I’m guessing it either increases the duration or decreases the cooldown time period!" Han Ying Xue felt very satisfied with the skill.
"Yes, after you upgrade it up to Level 10, it should give you a 30 minute cooldown time period, and the duration will most probably stay at 1 hour!" Zhang Yang nodded and said.
"So if you no longer need me here, I better get back to Wei Yan Er. I’ve kept her waiting for long enough, she might get mad and go hulk on me!" Han Ying Xue asked for a [Teleportation Scroll] from Zhang Yang, because saving up whenever it’s possible was the one rule that she would never break!
However, after taking over the scroll, she did not use it, instead, she went out of the place and summoned her [Crimson Flaming Horse]. Zhang Yang was confused, as she smiled and told him, "I forgot, Wei Yan Er is still on this map somewhere. If I use the scroll to travel back first before looking for her, I’ll be traveling even further!"
Zhang Yang frowned with sweat all over his head and said, "You took one of my [Teleportation Scrolls]!"
"Don’t be stingy, just treat this as the payment for my hard work!"
After Han Ying Xue left, Zhang Yang went back to Silent Hail Town to make sure that Sherryl was safe. When he arrived at the town, the people of the town were celebrating, singing songs and dancing over the news brought back by Sherryl, for the entire vampire race had been eliminated.
The moment he stepped into the sight of the people, they welcomed him with cheers and passionate hugs. Then, they lifted him up and threw him into the air repeatedly, bringing him into the middle of the celebration.
After celebrating with them, Zhang Yang tore a [Teleportation Scroll] and went straight back to Thunderstorm Castle. After settling some unimportant stuff, he went straight to the White Jade Castle to identify the [Titan Battle Boots]. After inserting the [Gemstones] into the empty sockets, his health points had finally exceeded 80,000, reaching up to 81,870 in total!
As for the [Fragment of Vampiric Inheritance] he just acquired, this item could only be equipped, so Zhang Yang could not just throw it into the guild’s warehouse or the bank. And he can just give it to anyone on his party who wants it later on. Everyone has only one chance of obtaining one inheritance, that is why everyone will definitely be focusing on getting S-Rank or at least A-rank Inheritances. Players that only seek for the highest attainments are considered to be single-minded, and they will not turn around before they bang into walls. Since that most of his party members will not look back at those Inheritances that are lower than A-rank, this piece of [Fragment of Vampiric Inheritance] will most probably be staying in Zhang Yang ‘s backpack for a while.
Zhang Yang had only managed to rest for a few seconds before he received Wei Yan Er’s invitation to join her party. Her voice was loud and clear, "Noob tank! Come help me tank against some monsters!"
"Hmm, so you and Han Ying Xue can’t take care of them?"
"If they are just normal monsters, we wouldn’t need to contact and ask for your help right? These are all elite monsters! Attacking one drew another four or five of them in! Even cousin snow cannot heal me up for much longer! Come quickly!" Wei Yan Er was breathing heavily.
"Fine! Fine! I’m on my way already!" Zhang Yang equipped the [Lover’s Charm: Yang] and activated its teleportation function.
Shoof!
A white light flashed before his eyes and Zhang Yang was teleported to the middle of a dark and lifeless canyon. All he could see were countless skeleton monsters lurking around in the surroundings. Whether these low-grade undead monsters were low or high in levels, they lacked intelligence. So they are only capable of wandering around without any sense or purposes.
[Black-Rock Skeleton Soldier] (Elite, Undead)
Level: 85
HP: 85,000
Defense: 450
"So, you girls are required to defeat these skeleton soldiers?" Zhang Yang switched his [Lover’s Charm] away and turned towards the two ladies.
"Yes, the quest requires us to collect 100 Skeleton Bones!" Wei Yan Er replied.
Zhang Yang was curious, "Which NPC has such heavy taste, asking two pretty ladies to collect bones!"
"A weird old man, living in a cottage, made of twitch-grasses, over that direction!" Han Ying Xue said, "The reward for completing this quest is great! Players can get 5,000,000 experience points, 200 gold pieces, and one piece of Gray-Silver equipment!"
Zhang Yang smiled and said, "You should mention the 200 gold pieces first! Haha!"
He brought up the world map and looked at it. So this place is called Black-Rock Canyon. It was a desolate location among a bunch of high mountains. Zhang Yang could not help but to frown with sweat all over his head, "So let me guess, it must be a person with no sense of direction who wandered around until she stumbled upon this NPC."
"Hahahaha!" Wei Yan Er began to laugh, and she was laughing without any sense of remorse!
Han Ying Xue attempted to share the quest with Wei Yan Er so that they can do the quest together. She thought that it might not be possible, but it turned out to be the opposite!
[Collecting Skeleton Bone] (Difficulty: C)
Description: Grave Keeper - Kyle Dylan wants you to collect 100 Skeleton Bones to prove that you have the courage and strength to battle against the monsters. Any player on the same party who manages to collect 100 Skeleton Bones will complete the quest for the rest of the party members.
Completion: Collect Skeleton Bones 0/100
Reward: Experience Points +5,000,000, Gold +200, Skeleton Ring
So this is the ring that Han Ying Xue was talking about, the Skeleton Ring, a Gray-Silver grade ring. Although it is not appealing to the three of them at all, rings are hard to come by in the game, so even if it’s just gray-silver grade, it would still be very popular among normal players.
Zhang Yang raised up his sword and shield and aimed a {Spear of Obliteration} at one of the Black-Rock Skeleton Soldiers. He launched it flawlessly at the monster.
"Rawgh!"
The skeleton soldier let out a roar and charged towards Zhang Yang and the two ladies. As it was charging at them, 4 other skeleton soldiers were attracted due to the chained aggro system in the game, and all of them followed and charged towards Zhang Yang and the two ladies as well!
When 5 elite monsters attack together, their combined damage output gets really high. No wonder little girl couldn’t hold her ground against them all at the same time.
Zhang Yang activated {Blood Rage} and boosted his rage points up to 30 points. Standing his ground until the monsters entered his attack range of the {Charge}, he swayed his body and ran forward.
With one swing from the [Sword of Purging Devourer] on his hands, the monster right before him was inflicted with a damage value of ‘-3,980’, and his rage gauge was increased by 37 points.
{Horizontal Sweep}!
That sweep had inflicted all 5 monsters with approximately 7,000 to 8,000 damage. But, the special effect of the [Sword of Purging Devourer] did not trigger.
"Owh!" the monsters were roaring with rage, and they attempted to reach out with their large skeletal hands.
‘-474!’
‘-492!’
‘-456!’
‘-489!’
‘-477!’
All of the damage they delivered upon Zhang Yang did not exceed 500.
Wei Yan Er was stunned by what he just witnessed, "These stinky monsters can damage me by 5,000 with every single hit! They’re not even getting past 500 on yours! It’s just not fair!"
Zhang Yang laughed and said, "It’s pointless to cry, even when your life is miserable! Hahaha!" He wielded his sword, as if he was dancing around in style, while unleashing the damage of his {Blast Wave} upon the monsters, inflicting each of them with a damage of ‘-1,088’, and at the same time, stunned all five of them for 4 seconds.
The number of the monsters he engaged with was too small, so the special effect of his [Sword of Purging Devourer] was very hard to trigger, as there was only 2% rate that the special effect would trigger when hitting the monsters.
"Humph!" Wei Yan Er charged into the monsters to release her temper. With a powerful swing of her giant axe, she accumulated enough rage points and it was time to unleash her worst with her {Tornado Cleave}!
‘-15732!’
‘-15248!’
‘-14873!’
‘-15567!’
‘-16212!’
As she inflicted those great number of damages to the monsters, the damages that Zhang Yang previously inflicted upon the 5 monsters appeared to be inferior, in comparison to Wei Yan Er’s. In just an instant, 20% health points of the monsters were swiped away cleanly!
"Little girl, those are some nasty damage points over there!" Zhang Yang was admiring. If they talked about DPS, Zhang Yang would not lose too much to Wei Yan Er, but to compare their damage in one single hit, it would be unwise to compare the damage of a one-handed weapon with 2.8 seconds interval attack with a two-handed weapon with 3.8 seconds interval attack!
Wei Yan Er was laughing proudly. But, other than {Tornado Cleave}, she did not have other AOE skills, so she could only continue fighting the monsters with her {Destructive Smash}.
With Zhang Yang kiting the monsters, Han Ying Xue became much more relieved. All she had to do was to cast a {Regeneration} when either of the two needed it, and she would just yawn in boredom the rest of the time.
In less than a minute, the monsters had fallen to the two monster slayers. But no Skeleton Bones were dropped!
Zhang Yang could not help but ask, "What kind of quest is this? We did not get any of the quest item even after we defeated 5 elite monsters!"
"That’s right! We have been here, slaying these monsters for half a day already. But we could only collect about 20 of the Skeleton Bones! So, take your own sweet time!"
Slaying monsters would still give players experience points.
So, after Zhang Yang got over his reluctance, he shot out another {Spear of Obliteration} at one of the skeleton soldiers, and drew the second wave towards them.
Cling clang cling clang! After a moment of slashing and chopping, the 4 Black-Rock Skeleton Soldiers were smashed into pieces of white bones, scattering all over the floor. Fortunate for them, this time, they had finally acquired one [Skeleton Bone] for their efforts.
"We have slain so many of these skeletons, what if a Skeleton King or something spawns out later on? Will it be pursuing us around the area?" Wei Yan Er smiled.
"... If it does, that thing will only attack you two, I won’t aid you two in attack it, or do anything about it!" Han Ying Xue drew a line between her and the two of them quickly.
"Humph! Han Ying Xue! You’re so unfaithful!" Wei Yan Er looked at her cousin sister with disdain.
"Oh, right! Didn’t you both say that you would help me buy a new house? How’s the progress now? I haven’t heard any news from you yet!" Zhang Yang was kiting the monsters, while turning his head towards the two ladies, asking about it.
Han Ying Xue sighed and said, "Silly Yu, do you think it’s really that easy to find a house in a place with good environment, good air, good neighbors, and good security?"
Zhang Yang frowned and said, "I just need a place to live, why are you guys making it into something very complicated and serious?"
"Noob tank! You’re selfish!" Wei Yan Er began to blame Zhang Yang, "You only think for yourself, but not for others around you! I despise you!"
Zhang Yang was at the brink of puking blood, "I’m just a guy living alone! What’s there around me? Or are you saying there are ghosts around me?"
"Wow, you really are one unbelievable boy, noob tank... So you are saying that my cousin and I are ghosts to you?" Wei Yan Er was enraged.
"... are you saying…that you two are moving in with me?! Are you?"
"That’s for certain!" Wei Yan Er said it out like it’s meant to happen. "Or else why would we put so much effort into helping you!"
Zhang Yang let out a sigh in surrender, "Oh please, you’re the one, the two who wanted to help me search for my new house! Besides, if you two are coming along, why should I move out then?"
"Noob tank, you’re the worst! Not going to cook for us, are you?" Wei Yan Er stared at Zhang Yang with hate, as though Zhang Yang had just committed an act that would put him on death row.
"Hmm, so now that he has a new love, he forgets the old ones already! You better watch yourself before I cut your ‘brother’ off!" Han Ying Xue was staring at the sacred part in between Zhang Yang’s legs and made a threatening gesture with her hands.
Well, an ancient wise old man once said, only women and small-minded men are hard to please!
Zhang Yang could not win this battle against the two, and he lost. So he could only let go of his steam on the elite monsters that roamed around him, slashing and chopping without pausing!
Han Ying Xue and Wei Yan Er walked up together and posed their victory fingers at Zhang Yang.
The drop rate of the quest item was extremely low, but it was fortunate that any one of them who collects the quest item will raise the counters in all of their quest objectives. So, after one night of continuous farming, the three of them had finally collected 100 Skeleton Bones.
But before they could go and turn the quest in for the rewards, Zhang Yang had been forced by the two ladies to log out of the game and buy them some breakfast!
What a miserable life!
Zhang Yang changed into his sportswear and began his training in the morning. After a long jog around the neighborhood, he went on and bought the usual breakfast, fried dough, and soya bean. Then he went back to the house straight. By that time, the two ladies had left their beds, and were powdering their faces, making ready for their day with some make-up.
"What’s all the make-up for? It’s just a breakfast, in your own house! Don’t you think it’s a waste of time? A waste of your own life?" Zhang Yang laughed.
"Humph!" The two ladies snorted at Zhang Yang.
After finishing up with their breakfasts, Zhang Yang went on to the company as usual. As he was taking the elevator up to his office, he could feel that everyone was giving him a strange look, and all of them were showing weird expressions on their faces. He was not aware of it at first, but the moment he stepped into his office, his secretaries started laughing at him. That was the moment he knew that something was amiss.
"Mr. Zhang, who made fun of you?" one of the secretaries walked up to Zhang Yang and took down a paper that was pasted to his back. There was a Snoopy drawn on it, and a phrase ‘I’m an idiot’ written clearly right below the Snoopy.
"That brat!" Zhang Yang crunched his teeth tightly. No wonder she was so nice to him this morning, being so passionate and caring. All her gentle words that had warmed his heart in a cold morning like this. So, this was her plan all along this morning! He had actually felt touched by her!
After shutting the door of his office, Zhang Yang put on his game helmet and logged back into the game. Right after he spawned in the game, he saw that Han Ying Xue and Wei Yan Er were standing right beside him.
"Little brat!" Zhang Yang roared in anger.
"Hahaha!" Wei Yan Er could not hold it anymore and burst into laughter.
Later, the three of them went back to the Grave Keeper - Kyle Dylan to turn in the quest for their rewards, after going through hell. Following down a path of a small road, they arrived at the cottage made of twitch-grasses. A seemingly 60-year-old man was standing outside the cottage, with a cane in his hand. When he saw the three of them walking towards him, he revealed a hopeful expression on his face, "Adventurers, have you completed the quest?"
"Yes, my respected old man!" Wei Yan Er was the one in charge of handing over the quest items. The [Skeleton Bones] were all in her backpack. The little girl quickly took out all of the quest items and placed them nicely in front of the NPC.
"Not bad! Not bad at all! You have completed the quest, outstanding!" Kyle Dylan praised the three of them with his deepest sincerity.
‘Ding! You have completed a quest: Collecting Skeleton Bones, acquired 5,000,000 experience points!’
‘Ding! You have acquired 200 gold!’
‘Ding! You have acquired an item: Skeleton Ring!’
This quest rewarded players with the most gold among all of the quests that anyone has ever come across. Zhang Yang could not help but to wonder, how could this old man, living in the middle of nowhere, be so rich!
"Adventurers, you have proven your courage and strength, and a heart of justice to battle against the darkness!" Kyle Dylan kept all the [Skeleton Bones], "Do you wish to continue to serve under the name of justice?"
"Yes, my respected old man!"
"Good, very good!" Kyle Dylan nodded and looked at the three of them, "This time, I need you to eliminate the Brainless Zombies in another area and bring back 50 [Tooth of a Zombie] as proof!"
’Ding! Kyle Dylan has given you a quest: Tooth of a Zombie, accept or decline?’
Accept.
After that, Zhang Yang and the two ladies summoned their [Mounts] and departed towards the direction of the quest area.
The quest area was just nearby. It only took them a brief moment to reach the location of that area. What they saw before them was a mass grave, with damaged gravestones all around the area. And there were countless zombies, rotten to the core, wandering around the area, without any sense of aim. And they would randomly moan, ‘Ooo...’. It made the atmosphere of the place spooky and weird, it was uneasy for the living to stay there for long.