Chapter Seventy-One: Cui Meng

After entering the side replica of the prince's residence, she saw on the map a few NPCs standing around, all labeled as attendants above their heads. The little demon, disguised as an attendant, mingled among them, requiring players to click on NPCs—once they clicked the little demon, it would transform into a monster.

She reminded everyone to buff up, and after casting a Celestial Sprite on herself, Yu Qian rushed ahead. Searching for the spot from memory, she first clicked on the attendant by the water on the right—it was the little demon.

Chu Yueyue was playing a Summoner, her first day in the game. Aside from a skill to summon pets, she hadn’t familiarized herself with the others, fumbling to find her buffs, only to see Yu Qian already fighting. A bit bewildered, she followed, set her pet to assist automatically, and continued to study her skills. But she couldn’t spot her character's buff skills. “Qianqian, I don’t know which of my skills are buffs.”

“Echo of Shadows and Feathered Exchange—you should have learned both. The others, Iron Will and Flesh Renewal, require leveling up other skills first. Yueyue, just set your pet to assist and follow, study your skills yourself, and try adjusting your keybinds for convenience,” Yu Qian answered without looking back.

“Okay.” Chu Yueyue obediently followed Yu Qian’s advice, continued to study her skills, and even brought out a notebook and pen, jotting down the purpose of each skill.

Yu Qian didn’t ask the others to study skills. Zhou Jingchen was a veteran, Wen Xiuchong was cunning, and Fuxi and Nuwa were practically immortals, needing no reminders at all.

After finishing off the little demon and leaving the instance, handing in the quest, she noticed Chu Yueyue’s character, Lunar Child, still following but hadn’t handed in the quest. Turning around, Yu Qian discovered the girl had filled a whole page with notes overnight, and couldn’t help but want to laugh at her earnestness.

She took the notebook from her hands, opened her skill tree, and explained each one: “Bone Command, Greenwood Hymn, and Earth Hymn are all summoning skills. Bone Command needs a corpse to summon Bone Spirit, single-target attack; Greenwood Hymn summons Wood Spirit, AoE attack; Earth Hymn can only be learned at level 75 with a skill book, single-target attack…”

Listening to Yu Qian’s explanation, Chu Yueyue gained a deeper understanding of the Summoner’s skills.

After handing in the quest and running together to the next step, Yu Qian returned to her computer.

Now, only Zhou Jingchen still stood by Yu Qian, waiting for her; Fuxi, Nuwa, and Wen Xiuchong had moved ahead to the next stage.

They went to see Yan Chixia and handed in the follow-up quest for the level 20 storyline. Drinking Jinling Spring for the NPC, the quest was completed.

After finishing the level 20 storyline, the main quest and side story split up. Side story bosses were tough, so Yu Qian chose to lead the team on the main quest. The main quest had few bosses, mostly running errands or farming minions—simple and quick.

Next was a visit to Jinling Confucius Temple to complete the mentor-apprentice related quest, which was straightforward—just a few conversations with NPCs.

Following the NPC instructions, after several quests, they reached the level 25 quest, where the main and side story merged again.

“Malicious, fierce, and arrogant.”

This quest required entering an instance to fight Cui Meng. For newbies, Cui Meng was a hurdle; players with gear below level forty or fifty would be wiped out.

But this boss wasn’t hard. With enough defense, you could just stand your ground. For Summoners, it was even easier—the pet tanks in front, while you cast skills from behind.

For other classes, though, it was a nightmare.

Poor gear, thin health, low defense, and low attack.

Try to fight, and you can’t hurt him; try to dodge, and you can’t escape.

Brother Cui Meng brutalized a whole swath of beginners, leaving them crying and wailing, which led many players to come back and challenge him again once their gear improved.

After all, Cui Meng had tormented them at low levels, and he was generous—he liked to drop purple gear.

When Yu Qian and her team arrived at Cui Meng’s NPC, the current chat was flooded with calls to form teams for the boss.

Yu Qian could immediately tell these were solo players who had tried to take on Cui Meng and got smashed.

She couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Cui Meng—it seemed he’d continue to be tormented by high-level players in the future, whenever they felt like it.