Chapter Fifty-Four: The Enchanted Sorcerer's Ring

Aside from summoning demon souls, the Silver boss Modin Kara had no other noteworthy skills, so nothing unexpected happened in the final few minutes. After several black fireballs, the hideous creature finally let out a miserable scream and collapsed onto the altar. At the same time, all the demon souls that had filled the altar faded away and vanished with its death.

Watching Modin Kara’s corpse dissolve into white light, Ye Chen walked forward with a slight sense of excitement, reaching out to pick up the equipment the boss had dropped. This Silver-level boss had exploded with two pieces of gear—both seemed quite good from their appearance. One was a dark brown cloak glimmering faintly, the other was a pale yellow ring. Cloaks and rings were both items with relatively low drop rates; getting two at once was lucky indeed.

He stroked the smooth cloak, and a small, three-dimensional model of the cloak appeared before his eyes, with the item’s attributes displayed beside it.

Constitution: +15
Required Level: 23
Bonus: Conceals player information, prevents detection.

What a treasure—15 points of Constitution meant 150 points of health. As a fragile double-healer, Ye Chen was always thinking about boosting his vitality. The bonus attribute made him almost ecstatic: with the cloak to conceal his information, after any murder or mayhem he could simply throw it on and not fear being recognized. Just one more level, and he could equip it.

Attack: 13–18
Required Level: 22
Bonus: Complete immunity to Witch’s Curse.

Although the ring was only rare-grade equipment, Ye Chen’s heart couldn’t help but pound wildly. Its value lay not in its regular attributes, but entirely in the bonus: immunity to Witch’s Curse. This meant that with the ring, he could roam and slaughter freely across the Witch Plains without worrying about curses. With it, the Witch Plains would instantly become a haven for solo leveling. Those lone masters would certainly pay an extremely high price for it—higher than for an ordinary Silver ring, no doubt.

A windfall from heaven! Looking at the Witch’s Secret Ring in his hand, Ye Chen’s mood soared. He already had the Silent Ring, so this was of little use to him; none of the girls in his studio were solo specialists. He could hand this ring over to Dragon Soaring Star, whose guild surely had lone experts willing to pay a premium for it.

Checking the time, it was already past midnight. There was no rush to turn in the quest, so Ye Chen simply decided to run back on his own two feet—saving himself a gold coin in the process…

On his way back, killing monsters as he went, he found that after equipping the Witch’s Secret Ring he didn’t even need Silence anymore, slicing through mobs with ease all the way to the edge of the Witch Plains. In just a few dozen minutes, his experience had soared—thanks in no small part to Modin Kara, the Silver boss, whose solo defeat had given him an enormous boost.

Ahead lay the crowd of leveling players; once through them, he could start the journey back to town. Ye Chen’s gaze swept across the crowd, but he saw no sign of danger—apparently, no one had tipped off Fierce Tiger…

Just as he took a few steps forward, a series of beeping alerts sounded in his ear. Opening his friend list, he saw Dragon Soaring Star’s icon flashing—was this guy coming to get fleeced? Ye Chen smiled and opened the communicator.

“Ye Chen, are you on the Witch Plains right now?” Dragon Soaring Star’s tone was anxious.

Ye Chen was momentarily taken aback. “How did you know?”

“How could I not? Fierce Tiger Roar is leading dozens of people to block your path. Fierce Tiger Bloodblade, whom you killed, is out for revenge—he’s already set out ahead of Roar. He’s got a Silver-grade weapon now, so don’t be careless. If he gets close, he could finish you off in a second.” Dragon Soaring Star’s voice was grave.

Just as he finished speaking, Ye Chen heard a series of warning tones. His right hand swiped in front of him, bringing up the mini-map. On it, a small red dot was slowly approaching—Fierce Tiger Bloodblade’s marker. Judging by the distance, he'd be there in just a few minutes…

“What’s wrong, Ye Chen?” Dragon Soaring Star couldn’t hear the warning tones, but Ye Chen’s silence made him suspicious.

“It’s nothing.” Ye Chen kept his eyes fixed on the distant red dot and spoke to Dragon Soaring Star. “I’ll remember this favor. Next time I have something good, you’ll get a deal. Let me show you what I’ve got—make sure you’re ready with the gold coins.”

With that, Ye Chen sent him screenshots of the Windcrack Sword, the Blackfire Staff, and the Witch’s Secret Ring’s attributes.

On the other end, Dragon Soaring Star could be heard swallowing audibly, his voice trembling with excitement. “Damn, where did you get such treasures? The Windcrack Sword and Blackfire Staff are impressive, but we’ve seen rare gear before. That Witch’s Secret Ring, though—its bonus is just insane! Our Rogue brother will adore it. With this, he’ll be able to grind up to the leaderboards in two days, and then Dragon Soaring will have three ranked members. Hahaha, ha ha ha!”

Ye Chen had certainly heard of this Rogue brother—the only senior in Dragon Soaring who didn’t use an alias, famed as the guild’s top rogue, second only to Windless Blood in Lieshan City.

“Stay calm and get the gold coins ready. We’ll trade once I’m back in town. The two rare-grade items are negotiable, but don’t even think about the ring for less than 300 gold. You know its value.” Ye Chen was in high spirits—his class change expenses would be covered in one go.

“Can’t you give a friend’s price?” Dragon Soaring Star feigned sorrow.

“Three hundred is already the friend’s price. If I put it up for auction, I’d get at least 350, maybe more. If not for our friendship, I’d go straight to the auction house.” Ye Chen’s words were truthful, though auctioning would take longer and incur hefty fees; the difference wasn’t much in reality.

“All right, 300 it is. And I won’t let you lose out on the other two pieces.” Dragon Soaring Star’s haggling was purely professional; seeing no room for maneuver, he didn’t drag things out. Suddenly, he sounded worried. “You’re not carrying all the gear with you, are you? If you get killed, that’d be risky.”

“Relax, two pieces are in storage.”

“That’s good.”

“But the Witch’s Ring is on me.”

“Then don’t get killed—our Rogue will be heartbroken, really heartbroken.”

“Just get ready to spend your money.” Ye Chen hung up the communicator. The little red dot representing Fierce Tiger Bloodblade was now very close.

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Thank you all for your favorites, recommendations, and tips these past few days. With your support, every day’s writing is full of motivation. Xiao Jiu thanks everyone.