MMORPG: The Elementalist

Guardian Potion: When used, user gains Holy Strength. All resistances increased by 10 (Physical and Magical), Attack by 10, Maximum HP by 200, Movement Speed by 20%, and resistance to negative conditions by 10%.

Six vials of Guardian Potion, their Quality ranging from 6 to 10 points, but with no difference in their effects—only the duration. As a matter of fact, it was the effect duration that Qin Ruo had some reservations about: at a Quality value of 1, the effects would last a mere three minutes; the full range of improvements could only last eighteen minutes, at most thirty.

However, compared to his other choices which were the Anti Toxin Potion and Sacred Potion, the Guardian Potion provided quite the considerable array of benefits. At any rate, it could be useful in a pinch, greatly improving a player’s combat ability for a brief period.

The benefits of the last three potions gave Qin Ruo some pause: Brightflame Potion, for fire-based Classes. Comparable to a Darkfrost Potion, the only difference being that fire magic was more focused toward dealing damage. Qin Ruo estimated that with the aid of this potion, Burning Rose could achieve a Magic Attack of 230-250 or more (if you included extra Burning damage over time).

With a high-level fire spell, such as Rolling Inferno, it could even produce an instant-kill against your average Beastblood Berserker with over two thousand HP!

All in all, Qin Ruo was satisfied with the attribute-boosting potions from Black Market Trader. Much had been gained.

After some thought, Qin Ruo shared the details about the potions with Slayer’s Heart. After all, it was thanks to the herbs he had given him—whoever he decided to pass the potions too, he felt he ought to ask Slayer’s Heart for his opinion beforehand.

As expected, the six Darkfrost Potions and three Brightflame Potions would go to Qin Ruo and Burning Rose, respectively. And yet Slayer’s Heart also instructed Qin Ruo to reserve for himself a 6-point Quality Sacred Potion, along with two vials of Guardian Potion.

This came as a bit of a surprise for Qin Ruo. After all, there were only six vials of Guardian Potion—if Qin Ruo kept one-third for himself, what did that leave for Burning Rose, Little Apple, Little Arrow, and all the rest?

“Relax, the girls already know about it. When the Graveyard of the Gods opens, it will be the two of us who stand the greatest chance of finding something good in there—especially you, so of course we have to give you special treatment!

“Little Apple and Little Arrow may be powerful, but they can’t go around on their own. They’ll get their share of potions, but what they’ll need the most is to keep safe by sticking together with us. These potions are valuable—we’ll invest them with our best.”

Slayer’s Heart had it all figured out.

Qin Ruo nodded, and after distributing the potions as advised, he chatted with Slayer’s Heart a little more. Only then did he stuff the rest of the potions into his own backpack, before ambling out of the bank.

Half a minute later, the Pharaoh Clan members who’d been following Qin Ruo now seemed close to tears, and came to a halt outside Savis Town’s teleportation circle!

***

Killer Bee Valley

Because a group of Bauhinia champions had been passing through, there had been several days of conflict here, but as the Evil Frost Tigers rose in level, the champions left, and Killer Bee Valley was silent once more. A whole day would pass and nary a player would visit here.

But Xiaoxiao had always been a regular here.

Every day around this time, she looked forward to seeing Qin Ruo, if he had any free time to join her for training. As such, even though she had already risen to Level 36, and the Killer Bees were no longer worth as many Experience Points for her, she’d never really thought about changing spots.

Qin Ruo stopped by, as he always did.

Xiaoxiao gave him a sweet smile by way of greeting, then the two of them moved in perfect harmony, using the skills that they had not yet raised to maximum Mastery, moving to clean out the Killer Bee Valley.

But something was different today. Barely any training had been done, when the number of Killer Bees suddenly increased!

Qin Ruo and Xiaoxiao were surprised to discover that from the usually lifeless region around the border were appearing more and more Killer Bees. It was worse at the more active regions in the Valley, as though a great swarm was spawning all at once, their movements demonstrating organization and purpose. As the rising sound of their buzzing washed over them, Qin Ruo was reminded of being in the Underground Chambers Dungeon again.

“Agh, that’s a lot!” Compared to him, Xiaoxiao was having more trouble keeping her cool.

Seeing the Killer Bees all around them growing in number, and some of them already beginning to zip toward the two people within their territory, she could feel herself losing some color. She was still in Tier 3 of her class, with neither the equipment nor the ability to stand up against such a horde of Tier 3 monsters.

Though Xiaoxiao was paralyzed with fear, Qin Ruo had already swiftly raised up two Frostramparts—one in front of them and one behind.

“Burst!” he shouted.

In the valley, there appeared two furious blooms of snow.

The Ice Blade Volleys caused the Killer Bees which had spawned nearby to focus their attention on him. Even if one of two of them got past him, it would not be too much for Xiaoxiao to handle.

The swarm was enraged!

In an instant, clouds of poison needles and magic ripped through the blizzard, all aimed toward a single point—Qin Ruo.

However, be it physical or magical attacks, the damage they dealt to Qin Ruo was next to zero. Qin Ruo quickly threw down a curtain of water around themselves, and then the Killer Bees’ attacks were basically no longer of any concern.

Now it was their turn to retaliate: Compressed Frost Bullet, away!

A small group of Killer Bees were caught in the Sudden Explosion and instantly eviscerated. Their mangled bodies fell to the ground a dozen meters away.

Not to be outdone, Xiaoxiao prepared her own Compressed Frost Bullet. However, she was not yet powerful enough to kill off a group of Killer Bees with one shot, rather she ended up drawing their aggression onto herself. Qin Ruo dashed in front of her, and another salvo of poison needles bounced off of him.

As quick as thought, he raised two Frostramparts in front of him! “Burst!”

Having taken two of their attacks already, the Killer Bees had no chance to survive another one. They were torn to shreds in mid-air and scattered away by the violent blast.

It was at that moment that Qin Ruo noticed the rampant spawning of monsters within the valley had stopped.

Hurriedly pushing Xiaoxiao up against a nearby cliff-side, each of them drew the moisture out of the air in preparation, sheets of Aquaramparts forming overhead. Deliberately they waited for the surrounding Killer Bees to draw closer.

The Frost Barrier clattered with countless impacts, as the glimmering Darkfrost Shield caught each and every single poison needle. Its endurance value gradually began to decrease in single digits with each passing second, but no one lost any HP.

They held against this onslaught for nearly three seconds—enough time for the water to freeze!

Nine Aquaramparts were suspended in the air overhead. As Qin Ruo had been setting this up, he’d already instructed Xiaoxiao to halt her attacks, but rather than sitting idly by, she’d also conjured up three Aquaramparts of her own.

Two separate voices rang out in unison.

“Freeze!” “Freeze!”

“Burst!” “Burst!”

*Boom!*

Nine Frostramparts burst apart at exactly the same time, blades of ice flying outward in all directions as a great storm. The twenty or so Killer Bees caught by this attack were sent tumbling through the air, their corpses flung a dozen meters away.

Instant death!

Moments later, the ice vanished. Qin Ruo held back the gleeful little lady, stopping her from collecting the coins that now lay about the fallen monsters.

“What is it?”

Looking up to see Qin Ruo’s grim expression, the delight upon her own face instantly melted away, and she turned to look into the deeper reaches of the valley. What she saw was that within a massive swarm of Killer Bees, there was a strange golden light bobbing up and down, flashing and flickering.

“A Boss?” After just one look, Xiaoxiao could already feel her pulse racing. Throughout her time in this game, besides the Kobold Chieftain, this was her second time seeing a Boss.

“There should be a Tier 3 Boss around this area. Do you want to ask Wang Da and the others for help?”

If she had been with anyone else, Xiaoxiao would already have messaged every one of their friends to join in the Boss fight, but she knew that Qin Ruo had a reputation for having slain Tier 3 Elite Bosses back when he was still in Tier 3 himself. Now that he had become even more powerful, it would probably be no big deal for him to take on this Boss single-handedly.

“A Tier 3 Boss shouldn’t be any problem.” Qin Ruo’s reply reassured Xiaoxiao, who had been worried that Qin Ruo himself was already summoning Wang Da and company over to help out.

The truth was that she still wasn’t ready to share this special place with any other of her friends; though if it was just some stranger randomly blundering through, that was no matter.

It was a strange sensation.

***

Qin Ruo did not notice Xiaoxiao’s emotional turmoil. He took stock of the surrounding situation, swiftly raised a boundary some distance around them, and prepared to deal with the Killer Bees nearest to them first.

Xiaoxiao could tell that Qin Ruo was doing it this way to minimize the danger to her. He was planning to remove any immediate threats in this area, so that he could leave her behind here. For her part, she desired to fight beside him in battle.

“Take me with you!”

“No way, it’s too dangerous. I can’t use my Elemental Perception here. I may not be able to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection. I can follow behind you and provide healing, clear off the small fry... You know I can at least tackle a couple of Killer Bees on my own. I won’t be a burden to you. And besides... don’t look down on women!”

Xiaoxiao refused to back down, glaring resolutely at Qin Ruo.

Seeing her competitive nature coming to the fore, he knew there would be no talking her down. Rubbing his nose, he laughed.

“Alright, I’ll let you try out being the woman behind a successful man.”

“Argh, you rascal!”