"Oh..."
The level 37 assassin, seeing the level 40 Mo Yin, felt like a younger brother and quietly retreated into the void. He then stepped into a patch of grass, took out a town scroll, and returned to the city.
Inside the city, in front of the pharmacy, Youling Wang was clad in golden equipment. Even a pair of bracers was an dark gold item, bought at great expense from another county city. Youling Wang was now level 42, with an arrogant expression. He was accompanied by his three protectors, Fan Wang Zhi Xue, Bi Yi Jian Zhong, and Fei Long Zai Tian. Just as they were about to log off, the level 37 assassin arrived.
"Alliance Leader, something big has happened!"
The assassin rushed forward, respectfully saying, "I just scouted the Crimson Moon Knights. They're all in a Cyan Stone Forest map to the north, trying to raid a level 50 dark gold Boss called the Giant Rock Demon Spirit. That Boss looks terrifying. I wanted to get closer, but their assassin spotted me. I'm too low a level to fight him head-on."
"What!?"
Youling Wang's eyebrows shot up, and he gritted his teeth. "Bai Yi, Xue Qiancheng, this group... are they really crazy? A mere handful of members trying to challenge a level 50 dark gold? Isn't that suicidal?"
Fei Long Zai Tian frowned. "Alliance Leader, don't underestimate them. The Crimson Moon Knights are not to be trifled with these days. Even if Bai Yi is a reckless brute, Xue Qiancheng is not. She was the right hand of the Azure Dragon Guild's leader, and her achievements during her time there were remarkable. If she dares to go, it means she has some confidence. We shouldn't be too optimistic."
"Not necessarily."
Fan Wang Zhi Xue frowned. "Don't really think that a level 50 dark gold Boss is made of mud. Their attack, defense, HP, and skills are nothing compared to a level 49 dark gold. The watershed is real. The Crimson Moon Knights might not be able to defeat it."
Bi Yi Jian Zhong nodded in agreement. "Difficult, too difficult!"
"Indeed."
Youling Wang raised his eyebrows and sneered, "Bai Yi and Xue Qiancheng really think they're something special. A few people daring to fight a dark gold Boss. If they can actually get the first kill on a dark gold, I'll stream myself eating…!"
"Ah!?"
Fan Wang Zhi Xue was taken aback. "My King is so resolute?"
Bi Yi Jian Zhong clasped his fists. "My King's great undertaking, your subjects are deeply impressed!"
Fei Long Zai Tian rolled his eyes. "So, are we just going to sit back and do nothing?"
"There's nothing we can do."
Fan Wang Zhi Xue frowned. "If the Crimson Moon Knights can really defy the heavens and defeat this Boss, we won't have time to get there now. The Cyan Stone Forest is at least half an hour away. So, we'll just watch their success or failure."
Youling Wang nodded. "Sleep, sleep. We need to calm down. How can our Flourishing Peony be led by the nose by this second-rate bunch like the Crimson Moon Knights? We shouldn't even let our state of mind be affected by them. The Crimson Moon Knights... they don't deserve it!"
"Right, going to sleep."
Fan Wang Zhi Xue chuckled. "Whose imperial concubine did my King favor tonight? Su Wei, or Ya Qi, or that one called... Miss Mi Er or something?"
Youling Wang burst into laughter and left. In this era, resource distribution was extremely unbalanced, so the monogamy system of the past had long become a piece of waste paper. People like Youling Wang had long since married many wives and kept them all in his villa, living a life of luxury every night. It was truly the peak of earthly pleasure.
These matters had long been spread throughout Flourishing Peony, but everyone could only envy them. There was no other choice.
...
In the Cyan Stone Forest, a fierce battle continued.
Although Chen Xue was calculating the cooldowns of all the Giant Rock Demon Spirit's skills, her teammates were still too low level. In fact, only Lin Zhao's Rising Dragon Slash had a good interrupt effect, achieving about 80% success rate. As for herself, Luo Man, Ding Chi, Rong Xing, and the others, their charge interrupts had less than 30% chance. On one hand, they were too much lower level than the Giant Rock Demon Spirit, and on the other hand, it was a matter of skill mechanics. Rising Dragon Slash had a higher interrupt priority than ordinary charges or sword energy collisions. There was no reasoning for such mechanics.
During the fierce battle, there were many dangerous moments. Ding Chi, Zhang Jun, and Rong Xing, who had slightly weaker HP bars, were almost killed by the Boss. Fortunately, Chen Xue, with her foresight, ordered them to retreat in advance, thus escaping disaster. As for Lin Zhao, he could mostly hold his ground with the lifesteal effect. The most stable was Luo Man. His stat allocation was 3 Strength, 3 Defense, and 4 Constitution, a balanced build of attack, defense, and HP. He was incredibly strong in Boss fights, able to stand his ground with high HP and defense. His attack was average, but that was all that mattered at this point.
The overall raid lasted for about 20 minutes. During this time, Lin Zhao was the main attacker, and the others provided support. Finally, after twenty minutes, the Boss's HP bar was less than 1%.
"Stop!"
Chen Xue raised her Giant Rock Spear and shouted, "Everyone retreat, mages and archers stop attacking. Let Lin Zhao finish him off alone. With his 3 Charm points, the drop rate might be higher. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get a Guild Founding Token. If a Guild Founding Token drops, it will be the moment our Crimson Moon Knights take flight!"
Everyone withdrew with enthusiasm, their faces filled with joy.
Lin Zhao unleashed a flurry of skills, followed by a fierce Heaven and Earth Throw, hitting the Boss's knee. The Giant Rock Demon Spirit's massive body trembled, and its last bit of HP was depleted. Its body crumbled and disintegrated in the air, dropping a pile of gold coins, along with some equipment and items mixed in. At the same time, a pleasant chime echoed through Yun Shang County—
"Ding!"
System Announcement: Congratulations to player [Bai*] and their team for successfully killing [Giant Rock Demon Spirit] (Dark Gold Tier), achieving the first kill honor of a level 50+ Dark Gold Boss. Player [Bai*] ranked first in team combat contribution, receiving rewards: Level +1, Gold Coins +500, Reputation +1000. All other team members received 65% of the reward. Congratulations to everyone, and best wishes to all brave adventurers!
...
"Done!"
Chen Xue, carrying the Giant Rock Spear, smiled and said, "Lin Zhao, you're the Alliance Leader. You can loot the equipment. Let's see what good things dropped."
"Mhm."
Lin Zhao stepped forward and collected all the gold coins from the Giant Rock Demon Spirit's corpse fragments, totaling over 800. This time, the studio alone could make a fortune just from these gold coins. Afterward, he rummaged through the corpse for items. There were no tokens, which was a bit disappointing. Fortunately, there were four pieces of equipment, so the loot was still substantial.
Among them, a flaming staff, a golden and round helmet, a simple shield with a lava-like color, and a fiery red cloak.
Lin Zhao picked up the staff and brushed his hand over it. The staff's attributes were then shared with everyone. Immediately, Lu Li's mouth dropped open, her heart pounding, and she felt breathless—
[Lava Staff] (Dark Gold)
Magic Attack: 300-435
Magic Power: +48
Stamina: +45
Lifesteal: +5%
Special Effect: Reduces cooldown of all user's elemental spells by 5%.
Special Effect: Lava, increases fire and earth spell damage by 25%.
Additional: Increases user's spell attack power by 10%.
Requires Level: 45
...
"A level 45 dark gold staff for mages."
Lin Zhao didn't hesitate and threw it to Lu Li. "Lu Li, it's yours. You're the only mage, no other options."
Ding Chi and Zhang Jun were immediately envious. They were secretly regretting why they had chosen to play as the "Three Swordsmen of One Sect" back then. They must have been kicked by a donkey!
Lin Zhao continued to examine the second piece of equipment, a golden helmet. He brushed his hand over it, and its attributes were revealed—
[Fire Rock Helmet] (Golden)
Type: Leather Armor
Defense: 135
Agility: +40
Stamina: +37
Special Effect: Precision, Hit Rate +12%
Special Effect: Damage Reduction +3%
Special Effect: Tenacity, increases user's HP by 450.
Requires Level: 45
...
A golden leather helmet with decent stats. The first drop from a level 50+ dark gold Boss wouldn't be too bad.
Lin Zhao held the helmet and said, "Mo Yin and Yao Guai can both use this. You two roll the dice?"
"Sure."
Both agreed. A few seconds later, Mo Yin won and took the Fire Rock Helmet. Lin Zhao then picked up the third piece of equipment, a golden, ancient-looking shield. He brushed his hand over it, and the attributes once again made everyone gasp—
[Lava Shield] (Dark Gold)
Defense: 280
Block: +60
Strength: +50
Stamina: +48
Special Effect: Damage Reduction +5%
Special Effect: Physical Evasion +4%
Special Effect: Damage Absorption +3%
Special Effect: Tenacity, increases user's HP by 1800.
Additional: Increases user's defense by 10%.
Requires Level: 45
...
Even Lin Zhao felt that these attributes were a bit outrageous. At this stage, any knight with such a shield would find it difficult to cut through Lin Zhao like butter. It would be very challenging. And with the Tenacity effect adding a whopping 1800 HP, such a tanky Paladin would be a nightmare for heavy melee combat.
"What do you guys think?"
He raised the shield and asked the two female knights in the studio.
Luo Man blinked and smiled. "Give it to Chen Xue."
"Ooh~~~"
Chen Xue smiled warmly at Luo Man and said, "Honey, why so polite?"
Luo Man pouted. "You're higher level, you use it first. Besides, I'm already tanky enough. Giving this Lava Shield to me would only make me tankier without increasing my damage, so it's not necessary. You're a damage-focused knight, it's better for you."
"Okay."
Chen Xue unceremoniously took the shield, but she still needed 3 more levels to equip it, so she could only wait a day or two.
The last piece of equipment, a cloak. When Lin Zhao displayed its attributes, everyone spat in unison: "Pfft!"
It turned out to be a black iron item. What a waste of everyone's anticipation!
...
"What now?"
Chen Xue smiled and said, "Let's go back to town to resupply, and then go out of the city to log off? I heard that no one is blocking the city gates tonight. The Flourishing Peony people seem to have given up."
"They probably can't handle the pressure anymore."
Lin Zhao smiled slightly. "Let's go back to town to resupply, then head out. All the gold coins from Bosses will be sold, and then split equally among the team. Everyone gets a share."
"Hooray!"
Rong Xing, Yao Guai, and the others nodded and chuckled. Just relying on their salary of 5000 general coins per month, they could survive, but not thrive. However, with team Boss raids and dividends, it was different. Their lives would become more prosperous.