The Forest Anomaly

The current sub-professions available include: Tailor (responsible for forging accessories, cloth armor, and leather armor), Blacksmith (responsible for forging plate armor and weapons), Alchemist (responsible for brewing potions), and Chef (responsible for making food to restore hunger). In the future, Architect (needed for guild stronghold construction), Engineer (needed for guild stronghold defense), and Appraiser (a basic version of this sub-profession can be learned by anyone, but deeper mastery requires a mentor) will also be introduced.

Additionally, there are basic life skills such as gathering and mining.

The Mage Guild was situated in the southern part of Vermilion Bird City, also serving as the hub for all Mage profession mentors. Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue arrived at the guild, and with the aid of their letter, they successfully secured an audience with the Mage Guild Leader.

The Guild Leader was an old man, seemingly ancient yet remarkably spirited. After perusing the letter, he furrowed his brow in thought before speaking. “I will arrange for this matter to be handled. I just received a report indicating unusual activity in the forest south of the city. I must attend to village affairs now and have no time to investigate further. Would you two be willing to help me look into it?”

“Ding! Congratulations on completing the ‘Deliver Information’ quest. You have gained 13,000 (11,000) experience points and 1 gold coin.”

“Do you accept the quest: ‘Investigate the Anomaly’?” “Yes.”

Having accepted the quest, Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue departed the Mage Guild, using the teleportation array to reach the South Gate.

Upon accepting the mission, Ye Jue had a vague understanding of its true nature. This quest was undoubtedly linked to the emergence of the next expansion pack, which was designed to accelerate players’ leveling pace. Otherwise, relying solely on dungeon runs and quests for experience would take an eternity.

Simultaneously, this upcoming expansion pack would also significantly widen the gap between top-tier players and ordinary ones. While there was only one main quest, numerous side quests offered abundant and valuable rewards. However, these were less friendly to casual players.

On one hand, ordinary players struggled with slower progression due to inferior equipment and less refined techniques. On the other hand, they lacked the acute sensitivity to quests that top players possessed; a top player might uncover three or four quests for every one an ordinary player found.

He vividly recalled how many elite players had risen to prominence in the last expansion pack. Though he hadn’t directly participated at the time, he often heard his university classmates discuss it. His interest piqued, he specifically researched it and indeed discovered those who had shone brilliantly during that period.

The Heaven Guild had joined midway, but Hades’s early entry had established excellent conditions for them. Hades had also brought a contingent of top-tier players with him, leading to considerable gains for the guild in that expansion pack. The Iron Blood Clan, despite having fewer players at the time, consisted entirely of elites and also made a significant impact.

Suddenly, Ye Jue remembered a specific individual. This person, known as Black Spade A, had completed the main quest in his previous life. Black Spade A was the guild leader of ’21 Points’, a subsidiary guild of the Heaven Guild.

Though outwardly unconnected, Ye Jue knew that ’21 Points’ was effectively a dog of the Heaven Guild. Sixty percent of its members were Shadow Assassins, who had played a significant role in hunting him down.

Despite having only 52 members, every single one of them was an elite among elites, possessing formidable strength. According to Bai Xiaosheng’s power rankings, all 52 individuals were within the top 500. Among them, the eight players known as K and A were all top 100 players, with Black Spade A himself being a god-tier player in the top ten.

Though the main quest had been interrupted midway through the game for various reasons, ultimately being passed to others, Black Spade A had already gained immense power from the early stages of the quest, solidifying his reputation as a god-tier player.

‘However, this time, I’ve seized the main quest ahead of you. Don’t even think about reaching the peak again,’ Ye Jue vowed silently.

Lin Shenyue, sensing Ye Jue’s sudden shift, felt a wave of unease. His entire being seemed to radiate an aura of hatred. She broke the silence, asking, “What’s wrong?”

Ye Jue paused, startled by her voice. He glanced at Lin Shenyue, who was watching him with a look of genuine concern. A faint smile touched his lips. “It’s nothing, Yue’er. I just thought of an old enemy.”

Lin Shenyue pondered for a moment. “Do you need my help?”

Ye Jue chuckled, shaking his head. “No need. They’re just some people I crossed paths with in previous games. They simply went too far in certain matters.”

Lin Shenyue was curious about Ye Jue’s enemies. Given his already formidable strength, she wondered how powerful his adversaries must be. Remembering Ye Jue’s subtle targeting of the Heaven Guild since entering the game, a suspicion began to form. Could it be the Heaven Guild?

Lin Shenyue’s intuition was, indeed, correct. However, seeing that Ye Jue didn’t seem to want her assistance, she reluctantly abandoned her line of thought. After all, it was merely an in-game grievance, best resolved within the game itself, without involving reality.

Lin Shenyue followed Ye Jue for about two minutes before they arrived at the forest south of the city. As they entered, she heard Ye Jue say, “The forest is teeming with humanoid monsters, mostly bandits. Their AI is quite advanced, so you’ll need to be careful.”

Lin Shenyue nodded in understanding. Her Sacred Set could effectively mitigate minor damage, and while its cooldown was lengthy, she didn’t believe she would be so unlucky as to be continuously ambushed by hidden monsters.

Ye Jue ventured deeper into the forest, cautiously observing his surroundings. Level 10 and above monsters were not only powerful in their attributes but also boasted highly intelligent AI. If aggro wasn’t maintained properly, they could easily bypass the tank and attack the squishy damage dealers and healers in the backline. Moreover, these higher-level monsters knew how to dodge player attacks, with their evasive capabilities increasing with their grade.

Suddenly, Ye Jue initiated a Charge, rocketing towards a patch of tall grass, directly knocking out a figure.

Bandit (Normal Monster): Level: 10.

Since neither of them had learned the Appraisal skill, they couldn’t discern the Bandit’s exact attributes. However, Ye Jue knew clearly that this Bandit possessed 10,000 health and an attack power of around 350. This was a significant increase compared to a Level 9 Tiger, with four times the HP and double the attack power.

At Level 10, Shield Warriors gained two new skills: Charge and Block. These were two of the core skills for a Shield Warrior, second only in importance to the aggro-generating Taunt skill. Ye Jue also knew about a minor bug in the Block skill during the early game. He immediately used Block, parrying the monster’s attack without suffering a single point of damage. Charge had a 45-second cooldown, while Block had a 10-second cooldown.

Unaware of Ye Jue’s new skills, Lin Shenyue instinctively cast a heal the moment he was attacked. Although she saw the large ‘Blocked’ text appear above Ye Jue’s head, her reaction time was too slow to retract the spell.

Noticing Lin Shenyue’s slightly disarrayed rhythm, Ye Jue advised, “My Block skill has a 10-second cooldown. I’ll use it whenever it’s off cooldown, except in special circumstances. Your reaction speed is a bit slow, so you can’t always retract your spells in time. Try to anticipate when I’ll use Block instead.”

Lin Shenyue silently committed Ye Jue’s words to memory, beginning to calculate the timing of his skills in her mind.

Ye Jue landed a precise strike. Although the monster attempted to dodge, it was still hit. After reaching Level 10, Ye Jue’s attack power hadn’t seen much improvement, but his health and defense had increased terrifyingly, reaching nearly 2,000 HP and close to 80 in both defenses. Yet, his attack power was a mere 130, which, while not low compared to an average Shield Warrior, made combat quite slow with just the two of them.

“-113” “-115″…

As Ye Jue was the only one with offensive capabilities, and he was primarily a tank, it took a full three minutes to defeat the monster.

Ye Jue felt a touch of exasperation. He could only deal such high damage due to additional effects from his equipment, which boosted both offensive and defensive stats. Otherwise, he would only be hitting for around 100 damage. ‘It seems a two-person party with Yue’er won’t be sustainable. I won’t be able to put out decent damage until I acquire that specific class,’ Ye Jue thought to himself.

Lin Shenyue also felt their pace was somewhat slow, but unfamiliar with the post-Level 10 situation, she simply assumed it was normal. If Ye Jue had heard her, he would have been quite helpless; after Level 10, damage-dealing classes gained significantly enhanced skills, and even with similar attack power, their output capabilities far outstripped a tank and healer duo.

Thus, proceeding at a steady, unhurried pace, the two gradually made their way into the central area of the forest.