MMORPG: The Elementalist

The main reason Xiaoxiao had chosen Killer Bee Valley as her training grounds was because the Killer Bees here had virtually zero resistance against water magic, which was ideal for an Aquamancer.

As soon as Qin Ruo’s Twelve Frostramparts Formation went up, the entire situation turned around. A hundred Killer Bees emerged from the blizzard to assist the Golden Killer Bee, but now they were within range of Qin Ruo’s magic, and before they could repeat that sonic attack from before, their wings were already covered in a layer of frost.

Not only did this slow their movement down tremendously, the frequency of their flickering wings dropped to the point that the movements could be tracked with the naked eye, making it impossible to perform that sonic attack anymore.

***

At that moment however, Qin Ruo was a bit distracted from the swarm of Chilled Killer Bees that had been caught within his spell. Instead, he was beside himself with joy and delight, thinking about the new water-control technique he had learned from Xiaoxiao’s intervention.

Elementalist Transfer!

In that instant when he assumed control of the Frostramparts that Xiaoxiao had released, Qin Ruo had felt his mind broadening suddenly, as though he had opened a gate and all kinds of strange new concepts were flooding in.

Qin Ruo immediately instructed Xiaoxiao to continue conjuring even more Frostramparts.

Moments later, another four Frostramparts came under his control!

Qin Ruo could not be bothered to use Mana Drain to restore his mana, and instead indulged in an MP Potion (M). Manipulating the ten new Frostramparts that he and Xiaoxiao had conjured, he added them to the rest of the Formation closing in the Killer Bees!

Their movements severely restricted by the Frostramparts, the Killer Bees were unable to damage even Qin Ruo’s Barrier. Not even the more intelligent Golden Killer Bee could figure out what they could do.

The Twelve Frostramparts Formation itself could slow movement by 30%. When further enhanced by Qin Ruo’s equipment, even a Tier 3 Elite Boss could not so much as scratch him. It watched with its compound eyes as Qin Ruo used both Frostramparts and his defensive enchantments to charge right into their midst.

Pushing all the way through to where the Killer Bees were the thickest, Qin Ruo stopped and raised the ten Frostramparts high into the air.

“Burst!”

Kaboom!

Following the deafening blast within the Killer Bee swarm, a massive plume of frigid mist rose up to the heavens! The Twelve Frostramparts Formation itself was nearly leveled by this phenomenal explosion!

Qin Ruo stood amongst the falling snow and hail, sifting through the torrent of notifications that had suddenly flooded his Battle Log. He wore a wide grin of satisfaction, delighted to have discovered a new combined-attack technique!

***

Once the resulting blizzard had cleared up, one could see Killer Bee corpses strewn across the interior of the Frostramparts Formation. In the aftermath of Qin Ruo’s titanic Frostburst, nearly all of the Golden Killer Bee’s guards had been decimated, leaving only a dozen pitiful Killer Bees which had somehow managed to hang on to life, only because they had been further away from the center of the effect.

The Golden Killer Bee, having survived as well by dint of the extraordinary health of a Boss, was nevertheless still trapped in a desperate situation.

With its defenses reduced by the Twelve Frostramparts Formation, and Qin Ruo’s simultaneous aerial detonation of ten Frostramparts overhead leaving it with nowhere to hide, it had been forced to take a full 150 Magic Damage, ten times in a row, for a total of over 4,200 damage.

On top of that, it would be severely Chilled for up to three seconds—normally, a Frostburst only had a very low chance of inflicting the Chilled effect, and even common monsters could easily resist it.

As the whirling snow cleared away, Qin Ruo strolled out of the Twelve Frostramparts Formation. With the dramatic change in the local climate, he was even able to make use of his Elemental Perception, and also nipped the Golden Killer Bee with a Mana Drain.

The moment the Golden Killer Bee recovered from its Chilled condition, with a great shout, a fully charged Compressed Frost Bullet streaked out like a bolt of lightning—or, at least from the perspective of the drastically slowed Golden Killer Bee, it might as well be a bolt of lightning.

Unerringly, it found its target!

The Golden Killer Bee recoiled from the impact. Then, with a great thunderclap, a million Ice Blades sprayed forth, biting chill upon razor edges, devastating its entire body.

Target hit: Golden Killer Bee takes 576 damage!

Effect: Chilled, duration 5 seconds!

… takes 682 damage!

Effect…

The combat notifications scrolled past. Calm and unhurried, Qin Ruo dismissed his Darkfrost Shield, which had already lost over two-thirds of its Endurance value, and then brought up an entirely new one afresh!

As he did this, another six Frostramparts were completed by Xiaoxiao, and slid up from behind. With a laugh, Qin Ruo immediately took control over them.

Boom! Another plume of frost blossomed over Killer Bee Valley.

Another Frostburst, as before! If it was a Tier 3 Aquamancer like Xiaoxiao, each spell would only have been worth a hundred damage or so; however, transferring control over to Qin Ruo took only a fraction of a second, and allowed the same spell to be cast with an increase of nearly forty damage.

The thing Qin Ruo enjoyed the most about this arrangement was the leisure it afforded him: normally, maintaining so many Frostramparts at the same time would drain his MP at an astronomical rate, making a Mana Potion necessary every few seconds.

But with the burden of conjuring Frostramparts shared between two spellcasters, and then transferring them all over to him only at the last moment… Not only did it greatly ease the rate of MP usage, it also greatly improved the rate at which Frostramparts could be produced, while improving the damage that could be dealt over a short span of time. Although it was just the two of them, they were easily able to keep the Boss monster confined within the Twelve Frostramparts Formation.

They kept going on like this: one maintaining the Twelve Frostramparts Formation, occasionally throwing out a Mana Drain or a Compressed Frost Bullet; the other purely focused on conjuring up more Frostramparts for ammunition. The two of them working in concert, each attack deducting another four thousand HP from the Golden Killer Bee.

Not two minutes later, the Golden Killer Bee toppled over, shattering like a fallen ice sculpture. A dozen items of equipment clattered across the ground amid a plentiful shower of coins.

All that glitters is gold!

***

Dismissing the Frostramparts Formation, Qin Ruo stood guard while Xiaoxiao collected all the loot.

“We’ve got two pieces of Gold Equipment!”

It was the first time Xiaoxiao had really gotten involved in a Boss fight, and she had even managed to do something useful. Looking at the equipment that she had had a hand in winning, there were no words to describe the elation she felt as she lifted the shiny new items up into the light.

Qin Ruo was overjoyed as well: he was pleased to have seen Xiaoxiao proving herself in combat, not to mention the new technique he’d learned to dramatically improve his performance in Boss fights.

Elementalist Transfer. He presumed that no other player had ever discovered this technique before now.

Two of the same class, one releasing their spell so that the other can take control of it—at first, it sounded foolish, but in a situation where one character was more powerful than the other, and there was a constant demand for more Tier 1 magic… this technique could be invaluable! Especially in Qin Ruo’s personal context: the main drawbacks of using the Twelve Frostramparts Formation had always been the tremendous MP cost and the ponderous cast time, making it unsuitable in many circumstances.

However, now that they could Elementalist Transfer, everything was different.

Qin Ruo was still lost in thought, dreamily recalling how swiftly he’d been able to raise the Twelve Frostramparts Formation, or that ten-fold Frostburst he’d detonated—what a rush! He thought about how nice it’d be to always have Xiaoxiao by his side…

Ah, but that would be much too selfish of him.

Qin Ruo was quick to abandon this notion, but he also thought it best not to spread this new technique around. Just go with the flow, and practice it a bit more whenever Xiaoxiao was around. Or perhaps, whenever Xiaoxiao attained Tier 4, he could simply recruit her into his party with Slayer’s Heart.

Yup, that sounded good.

Absent-mindedly, he disposed of a Twin-Headed Bee which spawned nearby, and his gaze wandered around until it settled on the girl, still eagerly scampering about the battlefield, picking through all the loot. It brought him a smile.

Remembering when he was Tier 3 himself, he’d been exactly the same, obsessively poking around every single monster he’d slain, afraid to miss even a single scrap of loot. He was a different person now, no longer impressed by Gold or even Dark Gold equipment, and barely taking notice of gold or silver coins, common Blue equipment, and so on.

Perhaps this was a sign of maturity?

He was chuckling at this thought when Xiaoxiao suddenly straightened up and yelled, “Ruo!”

Happily she bounded back to him, the dimples in her pretty smile flushed a gentle pink. She was hiding something in her arms, as though she’d found some incredibly valuable treasure that was sure to startle him.

Qin Ruo’s curiosity was piqued. Not even when she had been looking over the Gold Equipment had she looked so delighted. What could she have possibly found?

When he saw it, Qin Ruo glumly rubbed his nose. It was a Pet Egg, but it seemed that Xiaoxiao had picked it up from amongst the bodies of the normal Killer Bees. If it had been for a Golden Killer Bee, that would have been something, definitely a good Pet for Xiaoxiao; but a Pet Egg for a common Tier 3 Killer Bee…

… Absolutely worthless.