Chapter Ten: The Ritual of Frozen Ice

After making a circuit around the area, he picked up the loot dropped by the few notorious players from Fierce Tiger's group—eight items in total. Unfortunately, aside from a single rare blue-grade item dropped by Fierce Tiger Roar, the rest were, at best, of superior quality, with even two plain white pieces among them. In truth, this was already a decent haul, but Ye Chen had become rather picky. Just a few hours ago, a single superior-grade item would have made him ecstatic, but now he barely cared for them—at least, only rare gear seemed barely worth his attention.

[Gale Sword] (Rare—Blue)
Attack: 85-186
Strength: +7
Required Level: 20

As a level 20 swordsman weapon, it was quite decent, though not outstanding—certainly not top-tier. If he remembered correctly, his eldest sister was still using a superior-grade longsword? This would make a nice gift for her; she would surely be delighted.

Ye Chen thought about it with satisfaction, never considering selling it for money. Even the superior-grade equipment, he planned to give to other girls in the studio—not to flirt, but simply because it felt right. These girls had pulled him back from the brink, letting him eat and drink in the studio. Repaying them with a few items was the least he could do.

He checked his aura timer—over forty minutes left. He couldn’t let that go to waste! As for where to grind next, it was best to consult the system oracle.

“System oracle, where should I go to hunt monsters in my current state?” Ye Chen opened the dialogue box and typed his query.

“Please wait, calculating… You should head to the Frozen Plateau to hunt the Ice Priests. Here’s why: First, the plateau is closest, so you’ll waste the least time getting there. Second, the monsters there are low-HP spellcasters and vulnerable to fire, letting you maximize your attack aura and Black Fireball. Third, the Ice Priest’s first strike is always a slowing spell with no actual damage, and you can easily kill them in two hits. Fourth, very few players level there, so you won’t have to compete for kills. Fifth, Ice Priests are level 30, fifteen levels above you, so you’ll gain 500% experience.”

Level 30 monsters and 500% experience—this was insane!

He was ecstatic, on the verge of losing it. “That’s it then, I’ll go after them! System oracle, mark the coordinates!”

He opened his map, glanced at the location the system had marked, and immediately dashed toward his destination.

Crossing the Murloc Lake shore and climbing over a low hill, Ye Chen found himself facing a vast plateau. As far as the eye could see, the landscape was covered with Ice Priests in crystalline robes, exuding cold air. These creatures looked hideous—bull horns, bovine faces, and hooves poking from beneath their robes, the very image of beastmen.

There were indeed few players leveling on the plateau. Those who did were all skilled—at the very least, the lowest among them were above level 25 and well-geared; otherwise, surviving the Ice Priests’ attacks would be no joke.

“Hey, look over there—a level 15 holy healer! Is he here to get himself killed?”

“Kid, you’re in the wrong place. Go back to your level 10 zone and play with mud!”

“Idiots are a daily occurrence, but today they’re everywhere. Doesn’t he know what ‘death’ means? Even we veterans find this place dangerous, and yet a level 15 healer dares to come here? He must be a total newbie.”

“Little brother, this is a map for players around level 30. You’ll get one-shotted here—better try somewhere else.”

Ye Chen paid no mind to the mocking voices, though he was a little cheered by the one player who actually offered friendly advice. He smiled at the bald monk who had spoken kindly, then carefully made his way toward a nearby Ice Priest.

[Ice Priest]
Level: 30
HP: 3,000

The bald monk shook his head with a resigned sigh, already convinced Ye Chen was a clueless newbie. He could already envision the poor healer being flattened.

Ye Chen approached the Ice Priest, murmured the incantation for Black Fireball in a low voice, and pointed his staff forward. A flaming black fireball roared toward the nearest Ice Priest.

This kid’s done for—not only the bearded veteran, but every player watching Ye Chen attack the Ice Priest thought the same.

But in the next instant, every player waiting to watch Ye Chen die—including the bald monk—stared in shock at the huge damage number that appeared.

-1639! A crimson number floated up. The Ice Priest lost half its HP in one hit!

Another strike: -1576. Instant kill!

“Ding! You have slain a monster fifteen levels above you: Ice Priest. Experience gained: 15,236.”

Hearing the system prompt, Ye Chen punched the air with excitement. This was incredible—at this rate, he might gain two levels in just over half an hour!

“Impossible!”

Someone couldn’t help but scream, looking at Ye Chen as though seeing a ghost.

“Heavens, how could a low-level healer deal that much damage? My level 27 Elementalist only hits for about 360!”

“Hey, healer! Want to team up for kills?”

Sarcasm turned to awe. Some, reacting quickly, were already trying to recruit Ye Chen into their parties. In the blink of an eye, Ye Chen had gone from the butt of jokes to the most sought-after artillery on the plateau.

Ye Chen shook his head with a smile, politely refusing all the party invites. Instead, he grinned at the bald monk. “Care to team up?”

The bald monk let out a hearty laugh. “Sure! Looks like I’m getting a free ride!”

They quickly formed a party. The monk’s nickname was Monk Dingyuan; Ye Chen nearly burst out laughing at the name. It seemed familiar, so he pulled up the Leishan City rankings to check.

First: Arrowheartless, level 33, class: Archer
Second: Windless, level 31, class: Rogue
Third: Monk Dingyuan, level 30, class: Monk
Fourth: Deathlamp, level 30, class: Elementalist
Fifth: Dragon Fury, level 30, class: Berserker
Sixth: Dragon King, level 29, class: Swordsman
Seventh: Legendary Wanderer, level 28, class: Archer/Swordsman
Eighth: Fierce Tiger Overlord, level 28, class: Knight
Ninth: Godcaller, level 27, class: Hunter
Tenth: Sword Falling City, level 27, class: Swordsman

Well, well—Monk Dingyuan, the bald guy, was actually the top monk in Leishan City and the only monk on the leaderboard. Impressive! Monks’ attack stats were notoriously low; Ye Chen guessed even at level 30, Monk Dingyuan’s attack wouldn’t top 200—maybe just a bit over 100. Yet here he was at level 30. How did he do it? Did he never log off?

Looking at the Dragon clan, their strength was impressive too, holding two spots on the list. The Legendary and Fierce Tiger guilds both had top-tier players as well. As for Arrowheartless and Windless, their origins were unknown—probably lone wolves.

Sword Falling City—Ye Chen knew this one well. That was his studio’s big sister, real name Gu Qingcheng, in-game name Sword Falling City. She must have barely slept these past days, otherwise she’d never have climbed into the top ten.

Of course, Ye Chen wasn’t naive enough to believe these were truly the strongest players in Leishan City; plenty of experts kept a low profile, hiding their strength.