MMORPG: The Elementalist

The sky of the Underworld above Camp Edgar was now covered in dark clouds.

On the ground below, on the other hand, battle drums thundered loudly as countless Magic Spells were hurled at the Undead Horde. Thunderstrikes, Meteor Shower, and arrows rained from the sky while furious frost snow, Earth Thorns, and Darkmist enveloped the oncoming specters, forming a deadly battle zone.

With the damage surpassing twenty thousand points, accompanied with various de-buffs, the specters were all successfully blocked outside of the camp’s defense line…

As Majestic Hero, Netherclaw, Scarlet Bauhinia, and Black God brought their elite members into Camp Edgar, they were all impressed by the overwhelming battles that were ongoing on both land and in the sky. The Fallen Angels’ defense lines were so durable that they couldn’t help but be awestruck!

“It’s such a waste that Qin Ruo isn’t in the military…”

Scarlet Bauhinia couldn’t help but express his view after seeing the defenses at the camp. The flying troops were cooperating well with the troops on land. Countless specters were flocking toward the troops’ firepower, like moths to the fire.

The three other League Leaders didn’t say a word—they were staring at the “special task forces” outside the defense lines. These “special task forces” were tasked to surround and take out the Liches. These Winged Champions glided above the battle ground, igniting their own ferocious battle with the Liches in the sky.

Seeing the Liches being suppressed by these special task forces, the elite members behind the Four League Leaders couldn’t help but look at one another, jaws dropped to the ground.

Project Pioneer…

Even though it was quite expensive, costing twenty billion gold coins to commence it, all these efforts must be greatly rewarding. By taking out these Mini Bosses and Liches, they could accumulate mountains of loot in that seven-day period.

On top of that, the specters’ respawn rate was quite fast. It felt as though there was an endless flow of specters flocking over like tidal waves, granting the Fallen Angels League unlimited source of Experience Points. This too was another great reward that one could acquire by participating in this Project Pioneer.

As everyone was calculating the risk and reward of commencing their own Project Pioneer, someone suddenly yelled, “Hey, isn’t that Winter Demon?”

Then hundred pairs of eyes looked in the direction that that person was pointing at.

In an instant, League Leaders like Majestic Hero and Netherclaw too saw it—a lone Elementalist was hovering above the sky not far away from the defense lines. Flapping his Angelic Wings, he lay his eyes on the battlefield, as though he took no part in all of this.

“All of you! Go for a recon. Remember! Don’t meddle with the Fallen Angels’ defense lines… Netherclaw, Scarlet, want to go and greet our friend?” After giving out orders to his underlings, Majestic Hero invited the other League Leaders to join him in meeting Qin Ruo.

This was someone else’s turf. So, it was natural for them to at least pay respect to the turf’s owner…

Flapping their Angelic Wings, the four League Leaders flew to Qin Ruo’s side.

“Congratulations, Qin Ruo.”

Scarlet Bauhinia was the first to speak. “You’ve just recently acquired the title ‘Divine Champion’ in the Grand Tournament. And now, it seems that you’re going to be top castellan in H&G too, huh? So when are you going to treat us some drinks in the Great Winter Hall, huh?”

“Yeah!” Black God too had spoken. “You have spent twenty billion gold coins to do all this. Don’t tell me you can’t spare some coins to treat us to some booze, mate?”

After saying that, Black God threw a wry smile at Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo wasn’t some pushover. After hearing Black God’s words, Qin Ruo covered his nose and asked, “Majestic Hero, Netherclaw… do you smell that? I think that’s the smell of jealousy.”

“Hahahaha…”

The three League Leaders burst out in laughter as Black God almost fainted after hearing Qin Ruo’s rebuttal.

***

The five League Leaders went on chatting for quite some time while paying close attention to the defense lines around them.

After a while, they talked about the newly introduced City Building System and the Fallen Angels’ still-under-construction city…

“I’m so impressed by you, my brother.”

Majestic Hero spoke to Qin Ruo.

“You started from nothing. And then, acquired your ‘Winter Demon’ fame from the Graveyard of the Gods. Then, you stood out glamorously in Moonrise City. Not only that, you started the Fallen Angels Clan. Then, the Clan turned into a League! And it’s the greatest League to date yet… when I thought you’re satisfied with everything you’ve got, you’re suddenly the Divine Champion of the Grand Tournament! And now, you’re building a city… you are ahead of every single one of us all the time. Now, be honest with me. Are you planning something new right now while this city’s being built?”

Right after his words dropped, the other three League Leaders too turned their attention toward Qin Ruo.

“Majestic Hero, thanks to you I’ve now just recalled something peculiar. Honestly, I’ve always been curious with what you’re planning to do with the Dark Flame Valley, Qin Ruo. What’s your plan?”

Netherclaw finally spoke, “It’s now the third day that your men have occupied the Dark Flame Valley. If I didn’t suppress my men, these little rascals would probably kick up some stupid fuss. So, what are you actually looking for in the Dark Flame Valley? There are 1000 men there and you’re not calling all these manpower back even when you’re building your city.”

“Oh, that…”

Qin Ruo replied with a smile.

“Didn’t I mention it before? I’m collecting Dark Flame Steeds’ eggs.”

Netherclaw gapped in disbelief.

“Now now… I know the Dark Flame Steeds’ eggs are quite precious. After the Currency System has gone online, the eggs’ price has now skyrocketed to over 200,000 gold coins. However, come on, Lil Qin. Don’t tell me you’re short of cash? You can get that much money by just simply taking a stroll in the Underworld. This is much easier than asking a thousand men to grind for the eggs each day.”

Although Netherclaw didn’t openly say it, it was quite clear what was he trying to imply—Qin Ruo was hiding something.

Even Majestic Hero and Black God too looked at Qin Ruo doubtfully, apparently second guessing his intention in regards to Dark Flame Valley.

Qin Ruo was so speechless…

“Oh my… no one believes the truth when one says it… what a world we live in…”

Since they thought he had greater plans for the Dark Flame Valley, Qin Ruo decided to just stop clarifying anything which reinforced Netherclaw’s suspicion that Qin Ruo had some mysterious plans schemed for the valley.

Seeing Qin Ruo’s silence, the other League Leaders too stopped prying for more. Not getting anymore answers from Qin Ruo, they could only guess that Qin Ruo might have something bigger planned out and it wasn’t time for him to tell them yet…

Thus, they remained silent.

And for the subsequent forty minutes, the four League Leaders had spread out to actively help patrolling and reinforce the Fallen Angels’ defense around Camp Edgar.

The League Leaders were bewildered when they returned to Qin Ruo after their patrol rounds.

“Little Qin.”

Black God was the first to speak. “Let me get this straight. I’ve heard from your men that… the specters had been attacking from the very first minute since Project Pioneer commenced, right?”

The four League Leaders’ main objective of visiting Camp Edgar today was to collect information and gain experience in anything that was related to Project Pioneer. And in the entire time of their stay, they had never seen the Undead Horde ever take a break from attacking the camp. Not only that, the attacks were getting stronger by the minute.

This made Black God nervous.

Sure, the Fallen Angels’ defense was superb—it was basically impenetrable…

And Black God couldn’t help but wonder how would his “Black Jail League” handle this continuous waves of Undead Horde attacks.

The Black Jail was only able to assemble four other newly risen ordinary Clans as its Sub Clans. In other words, the Black Jail League was the weakest in terms of overall strength out of the Angel Faction’s Five Leagues. They were understaffed—they didn’t have enough Champions and Veteran Champions in their League. Black God couldn’t imagine just how dire it would be if his League were to face these Undead Hordes and Liches…

There was no way the Black Jail could handle it like Fallen Angels did…

Not only that, Majestic Hero, Scarlet Bauhinia, and Netherclaw too felt that this question that Black God posed was quite on point. If Qin Ruo could share any information on that, it would help them reduce a lot of trouble when they commence their own Project Pioneer in the future.

“I don’t know too.”

Qin Ruo stared at the oncoming Undead Hordes with a frown and told them his worry earnestly.

“It’s been two hours since I commenced Project Pioneer and yet, these specters just never stop. Not even for a second… and I have a hunch that it’s not going to be easy to halt their attacks too.”

Hearing this, the four League Leaders’ faces turned grim.

“Wait… it’d take seven days to build the city…”

“Are you kidding me? So the camp’s going to experience a seven-day non-stop Specter fest?”

“Tsk…”

If so, I suppose I can’t commence my Project Pioneer in this half a month.”

Black God knew the limitation of his own League. If these darn specters were to just attack the construction site for a few hours, he could still hold them off. However, if they were to attack the place non-stop and increase their attacks’ intensity by the hour, for a whopping seven days? He would need to at least get two shifts of elite members to hold their ground…

Black Jail League didn’t have this many Veteran Champions and elite fighters to pull this off.

Yet, Qin Ruo continued on in a grimmer voice.

“If it’s just this… a seven-day Specter fest… it’s still manageable. All we, the Fallen Angels, have to do is just clench our teeth and tank it through… I’m worried that this is only the beginning.”

Qin Ruo couldn’t help but keep thinking about Edgar’s warning.

He too, deep down his heart, had a hunch that there must be something else that was going to come up in this seven-day period. It was not going to just be some endless attacks from the Undead.

There was something else, something much more dangerous than the Liches that were attacking the camp right now.

As Qin Ruo voiced out his worry, he didn’t see the four League Leaders’ pale faces.

They could see the strength of the Fallen Angels after patrolling Camp Edgar earlier—from the way they handled themselves when facing against the Undead Hordes, they did believe that Qin Ruo and his League could tank through these pesky Undead Hordes’ attacks. Yet, Qin Ruo said there could be a greater threat lying ahead…

Then, this city building quest, this Project Pioneer must be much more difficult than they had initially thought!

‘Good thing I’ve come to take a look first.’

Netherclaw was sweating profusely. If he were to follow suit and commence Project Pioneer a few days after the Fallen Angels commenced theirs, he would probably be wasting his twenty billion gold coins in just a few hours. Fortunately, the Fallen Angels were pioneering this so he could observe things first. He could take things slow and steady.

While Qin Ruo was pondering if he should remain passive and wait for the “greater threat” to show up, Netherclaw, Majestic Hero, and the others had decided to stay in Camp Edgar to observe. They wanted to learn as much as they could about this Project Pioneer.