Chapter 781: Tank's Prowess
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The moment the Tank System was implemented into the game, many guilds began to purchase the Tanks. The implementation of the new system had sparked the guild to spend fortunes to secure as many Tanks as they could. Even though not all guilds were as rich as Zhang Yang’s Lone Desert Smoke, they just had to buy at least one or two Tanks to stay in the game! After all, one Model 4.0 Tank would have much more HP than a player that has activated his or her Class S Inheritance Transformation! Of course, the guilds would need such a powerful asset on their sides.
Furthermore, the Tanks initially existed in the form of small models that could be held in one’s hand. They were similar to the ‘leash’ of a pet. So, the guilds could just keep the number of Tanks they possessed hidden deep up their sleeves to create an element of surprise for their enemies. They would only reveal how many Tanks they had during very crucial moments in battle.
Even the Model 1.0 Tanks cost 100,000 gold pieces each. The system had earned so much in just a couple of days. However, everyone was still buying in a frenzy, even though they were aware of it. Well, it cannot be helped, though. If your enemy has a Tank and you don’t, you’re basically f*cked in a head-on battle. After all, a Tank would basically be as tough as a player who has activated his or her Inheritance Transformation.
The first thing that Wei Yan Er did after she logged back into the game was to drag Zhang Yang’s *ss over to the military quartermaster of the main city. There, she commanded Zhang Yang to purchase 10 pieces of D-grade Defensive Chariot Fenders so that she could fortify her Tank.
She tried to sound reasonable and said, "This Tank is going to help everyone, not just me! Of course, you can’t expect me to pay for everything!"
Even though the Tanks were bound to whoever who picks them up, the Chariot Fenders were not. They could be traded freely among players. However, it would not actually benefit the players much. After all, only NPCs sell them in the main cities. So, the fact that the items were not ‘bound upon pick up’ only allows players to purchase the Chariot Fenders on behalf of the others.
Other than that, once the Chariot Fenders are installed on the Tanks, they would no longer be removed from the Tanks for others to use. They could only be replaced by new Chariot Fenders. Those Chariot Fenders on the Tanks would be automatically destroyed when they are replaced by new Chariot Fenders. Meanwhile, each D-grade Chariot Fender cost up to 2,000 gold pieces. That was because the game developers wanted to restrict players from switching the types of their Chariot Fenders without consequences.
For instance, players would have to use Defence-type Chariot Fenders to battle against Physical-type bosses. On the other hand, the players would have to use Magic-Defence-type Chariot Fenders to battle against Magic-type bosses. If they needed to switch the types of Chariot Fenders whenever they were going to battle different types of bosses, their finance would definitely run dry in the blink of an eye. Because of that, it would be wiser to purchase 6 Tanks and install different types of Chariot Fenders on each of them!
After installing the Chariot Fenders on her Tank, the little brat immediately felt an itch to try out her new ‘toy’. She quickly summoned everyone over to Souron’s Castle, saying that she wanted to try out the functionality of the Tank she newly acquired.
Everyone in the gang was curious as well. So, it did not take long before all of them arrived at the entrance of the Souron’s Castle. After everyone arrived, Wei Yan Er took out the little tank model and started chanting. A stream of light flashed across the model. In just an instant, a heavily armored Tank appeared right before the little brat’s eyes. The Tank had an open roof. So, players could just hop off the Tank anytime they wanted to. Of course, the main intention was to make it much more convenient for the players to attack from within the Tank.
Everyone got up the Tank. Each of them had an automated request sent on their behalf, asking to board to Wei Yan Er. They could only get on the Tank when Wei Yan Er approved their requests. Or else, they would be forbidden from getting up the Tank.
"Oi! Little Yan Er! Why don’t you let me in?" Other than Fatty Han and Endless Starlight, everyone was on board already. Fatty Han filled his cheeks with tears and look at the little brat.
"Kekeke!" Wei Yan Er laughed like a little b*tch and said, "Wretched fatty, little Starlight. You two have never once behaved appropriately. So, the captain of this Tank forbids your entry!"
Even though that was the case at first, Fatty Han and Endless Starlight managed to sweet talk their way onto the Tank. They kept praising the little brat pretty and nice in order to get a pass to get on board.
"Charge! Let’s kill ourselves some monsters!" Wei Yan Er was standing on the vehicle’s front while raising her scythe up high and cried out loud. She looked like a powerful general giving orders for the Tank to move out --- the Tank is controlled by the owner. The control mechanism over the Tanks is basically similar to the control mechanism over the Mounts.
The Tank was crushing the ground as it was moving forward. The movement of the Tank was clumsy, sluggish, and noisy. It attracted quite some attention from the players in their surroundings. Many revealed a sense of admiration and envy on their faces when they saw Zhang Yang and the gang riding on a Tank.
However, the movement speed of the Tank was extremely slow. It could only move a little faster than the normal movement speed of a player when they are on foot. Because of that, everyone began to feel bored after a short burst of excitement. They were now behaving just like white-collared workers taking their daily commute.
Wei Yan Er smiled awkwardly and she quickly kept the Tank into her inventory. Then, everyone summoned their Flying Mounts and made their way to Sylrokia. They decided to camp at that site to slay monsters and complete some quests for the moment.
Thanks to the influence of the Kingcross’s Sword, everyone tried to complete the quests on the map. Everyone became skeptical on whether there would be some other similar quest items such as this sword. Furthermore, Ascended Tier bosses would not just sit tightly at a corner, waiting for players to find them and kill them. They would only be spawned by the system at certain time. So, before the bosses were spawned, no one would have any idea on what kind of insane Skills the bosses would have.
Upon arriving at a small valley, Zhang Yang and the gang noticed that the valley was full of wolves. They were basically Level 190-195 Normal Tier monsters. Although their numbers were abundant, they were not closely packed together. So, it would be impossible for Zhang Yang and the gang to kill them all in one shot.
Well, their main purpose was to try out the new Tank, after all. So Wei Yan Er quickly summoned the Tank and let everyone get onboard. After that, they charged out valiantly and marched towards the wolf’s den with high spirit.
"Ooooo---" a wild wolf howled and charged towards the Tank. It reached out with its sharp claws and landed a solid strike on the Chariot Fender by the side of the Tank. The impact rang out and everyone received a damage value that popped right on top of them. The damage values on them ranged randomly from 2,000 damage to 5,000 damage.
Among them all, Zhang Yang was the one who had the most Defence. However, he received the most damage out of the gang. Therefore, Zhang Yang was the one who received the 5,000 damage. The others received less damage.
Well, the main reason was due to the fact that the Defence and Damage Immunity of everyone was based on the Defence of the Tank. The basic attack of the wild wolf was approximately 56,000 points. After applying the 20,000 Defence of the Tank’s Defence, the wolf could only deal 36,000 damage to the Tank. As there were 10 of them on the Tank, the damage received by the tank was divided equally among the 10 of them in terms of percentages.
However, that would not mean that every one of them would receive 3,600 damage. Because the system wanted to apply the idea of ‘sharing the same fate’ to every single player on the same tank. Therefore, the deduction of HP would be based on percentage ratio. The system would make sure the HP bar for each of the players on the Tank would drop down to 99%, 90%, 70%.
Because Zhang Yang’s HP was the highest among his gang, he received the most damage compared to the others based on the percentage ratio. Meanwhile, the players’ Defence would not be accounted for when they are on the Tank. Or else, they would have their own Defence and the Tank’s Defence stacked on together, making them so powerful that they might not even receive a single damage from the monsters!
--- All high Tier equipment had the special effect of absorbing damage. For instance, even though Sun Xin Yu and the others did not have shields on them, each of them also had over approximately 10,000 damage absorption. If they could really stack their own Defence and the Tank’s Defence altogether, then any damage that is under 12,000 damage would not be able to cause a single damage point on them!
So obviously, that would not be the actual scenario!
Tanks would only enhance the survival ability of the players. They can’t make players invincible!
After that, the gang began to launch their attacks on the wolf. After bombarding the wolf with their insanely powerful attacks, the monster died.
However, because the movement speed of the Tank was extremely slow, the gang believed that it was not a good idea to stay on the Tank if they wanted to grind. Of course, the gang could split up a little and lure the monsters to the Tank first before wiping them all out at once.
It did not take long before everyone lost their patience with the super slow movement speed of the Tank. One by one, they hopped off the Tank and began to walk on their own pairs of feet.
Well, the movement speed was not the only disadvantage that the Tank had. Players would not be able to use quite a number of their powerful Skills. Skills such as {Ambush}, {Vanish}, {Fake Death}, {Thunder Strike} and many more would not be available while they are on a Tank. Other than that, there would only be one Tank on the aggro list of the monsters when they engage into battles. Players were like the weapons installed on the Tank. So, the monsters would not ignore the single unit on their aggro list, even if one of the Hunter onboard activates his or her {Fake Death}.
Wei Yan Er was the only one who got excited over the Tank. So after noticing everyone’s dull reaction, she kept the Tank back into her Inventory and pouted in a huff.
Because of the new Tank System, many Nation Wars, Party Wars and Territory Conquests happened all over the server. The sides that had more Tanks obviously had the advantage over the sides that had lesser Tanks. Because of that, many guilds all over the server had been forced to invest more money on acquiring as many Tanks as they could.
Therefore, the number of Tanks and the number of players with Inheritance Transformations had become factors that determine a guild’s power level!
And because of that, many average guilds that had not been performing well suddenly became powerful just because they had a guildmaster that’s rich as f*ck. However, because Tanks could only be used when players had reached Level 180, many guilds could only keep the Tanks in their warehouse for the moment even they were able to buy a large quantity of Tanks.
Another month had passed in a blink of an eye. The fame had entered another phase that Level 180 was the mainstream level in the game. Many players had attained Level 180 and beyond at that point of the game. Because of that, large-scale war between Regions had now become very common in the game. Well, there were many guilds who were not willing to stay in the shadow of others. So, they wanted to prove themselves by triggering wars.
Meanwhile, the Eternal Flame had become a powerful guild. Furthermore, Zhong Xiu Hua was a rich f*cker who never runs out of money. So when his guild had gathered a certain number of Level 180 players, he decided to launch a Territory Conquest on Souron’s Castle.
During that siege, the Eternal Flame had sent 13 Model 4.0 Tanks into the battle --- it was not because Zhong Xiu Hua only purchased that amount of Tanks. It was because he could only gather 500+ Level 180 players which was only enough to fill up 13 Model 4.0 Tanks.
Greeted with the ferocious siege from the Eternal Flame, Zhang Yang did not falter at all. He had nothing to worry about, after all. So, he sent 15 Model 4.0 Tanks into the battle (limited by the same factor – he could only gather that many Level 180 players). So, the two guilds had clashed in a fierce battle.
Having 28 Model 4.0 Tanks in the battlefield was basically like having 28 players with Class S Inheritance Transformations. However, there was also a power level difference, even though every single one of them were players with Class S Inheritances. Well, the same went to the Tanks. Although the Chariot Fenders on the Tanks were all D-grade, and it sounded like there was no difference at all, the ‘HP’ and ‘Attack Power’ of the Tanks would still vary based on the players on them!
Just imagine this. If one Tank is filled with players wearing Ethereal Tier equipment and the other Tank is filled with players wearing Holy Tier equipment, which Tank would be more powerful, then? It is obvious, isn’t it? So, when the number of players increases up to the scale of 50, the difference between the power levels among the players would become extremely obvious.
The Eternal Flame had an average of 25,000,000 HP on each of their Tanks. However, the Lone Desert Smoke had an average of 30,000,000 HP on each of their Tanks! Furthermore, the ‘Attack Power’ on both sides was vastly different!
Everything was obvious. The Lone Desert Smoke had taken down the first 6 bosses in the Spectre’s Cavern. Although not every party of the Lone Desert Smoke managed to achieve such an achievement, the others were also managed to progress by over 2/10, or 3/10 of the dungeon. Their achievements were considered not that bad at all.
On the other hand, even though the main party of the Eternal Flame managed to progress over 4/10 of the dungeon, the ‘power level’ of their core players still had a long way to improve before they could catch up with the ‘power level’ of the Lone Desert Smoke’s core players. Other than that, the number of players on their Dungeon Expedition Force. Their progress in clearing dungeons was slow as well. Only 3 parties of their Dungeon Expedition Force managed to clear the first boss of the dungeon.
More importantly, the level and Tier of their equipment were far weaker than the level and Tier of Lone Desert Smoke’s equipment!
Therefore, the Eternal Flame totally lost the battle!