Chapter 4: Stealing the Monster

Chapter 4: Stealing the Monster

Chapter 4

To My Dear Friend:

Congratulations on completing the beginner quests. From today onward, you have officially stepped into Nine Provinces.

You now have a preliminary understanding of Nine Provinces, but I still have a few pieces of advice for you.

Wealth can let you stand ahead of the starting line, but it cannot help you go farther. The world is vast; you must venture through it on your own.

Wisdom is a priceless treasure. An excellent mind can help you solve problems, create wealth, and move toward a bright future.

Cherish your friends. Whether they are real or false, fate has brought you together here.

Pay attention to every little detail of this land. Grow through sweat, laughter, and effort.

The martial world is vast, and the Nine Provinces are far away.

The places within reach are the world that belongs to you and me.

—Meeting white clouds, one in the south and one in the north, one in the west and one in the east.

—Once the Nine Tripod Cauldrons were completed, they were moved to the Three Kingdoms.

Ying Long furrowed her brows and swiftly pressed the screenshot key to save it.

Only after confirming that it had been saved did she carefully study the letter.

It was too strange. There was absolutely no memory of this letter in her recollection, but from the perspective of a reincarnated person, every sentence in the letter was thought-provoking.

Skipping the opening section, the first piece of advice was about wealth. Ying Long knew very well that after Nine Provinces became Claim the Throne, the game really did introduce a huge number of money-spending features, especially costumes, mounts, accessories, pets, and wings. Spending hundreds of thousands of yuan was completely normal. The clothes in the pawnshop were outrageously expensive, practically priced like luxury goods.

But spending money was spending money; it was difficult to truly widen the gap between players just by throwing money at the game.

Equipment custom-made at great expense by wealthy players could be crafted by ordinary players themselves if they had enough patience, by farming materials, or obtained through PVP competitions. The difference was not particularly great.

—Of course, the reason the wealthy players did not quit and were still willing to play was naturally because there were things that allowed them to have fun. That could be discussed later.

Wealth could let players enter the game with ease, but how far they went still depended on the person.

Wisdom went without saying. People who played games with their brains always progressed faster than others. Friends... She could understand real friends. The core of online games was social interaction. Did "virtual" refer to NPC favorability? She knew that if you raised the favorability of certain factions high enough, you could obtain bonuses during major battles. But looking at it now, could there be another meaning?

What concerned her most was the final poem.

She searched for the poem and discovered that it was actually written in ancient bronze inscription, originating from the pre-Qin period. It was called "Ode to the Casting of the Xia Hou Tripods."

The meaning of the original text could no longer be verified, but in Nine Provinces, the Nine Tripod Cauldrons represented the royal authority over the nine provinces. Whoever obtained the Nine Tripods would obtain the world.

And after obtaining the world?

The King of Qin obtained the He Clan's Jade Bi, which became the Imperial Seal of the Realm.

—She had finally found the first piece of the treasure's puzzle.

Ying Long curved her lips into a smile and was just about to close the letter, but as soon as the mouse moved, the translucent interface suddenly turned into powder and dissipated.

For a moment, she was bewildered, not knowing what kind of trick this was.

After staring blankly for two seconds, another group of white pigeons flew over.

[Private Message] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: Healer, help me kill the snake. I'll pay.

[Private Message] Apothecary Exquisite: Just form a party and fight it. The aggro won't get messed up.

[Private Message] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: [Crying] We can't steal the monster.

Ying Long thought for a moment and estimated a price.

[Private Message] Apothecary Exquisite: 10 yuan

Per person.

[Private Message] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: [Wide-eyed] How do I pay?

[Private Message] Apothecary Exquisite: [Dream Payment Code.JPG]

Nine Provinces had not opened any gold-buying service. RMB and in-game currency could not be exchanged, but players could send images. For the convenience of transactions, the company operating Nine Provinces had already implemented a wallet function. Linking a bank card would provide a payment and collection code, similar to WeChat or Alipay.

The QR code only displayed her game ID and registered email address, not her real name. Its privacy protection was excellent, and this would also become the mainstream trading method in Claim the Throne later on.

Iron Horse Autumn Wind looked like an experienced player who was not short of money. He was not afraid of being scammed and readily transferred ten yuan.

Ying Long invited him into a party and rode Little Donkey back toward the jungle.

There were even more players now, most of them around levels 15 or 16. It was said that there were one hundred thousand players at launch, so there were bound to be plenty of clever people and veterans among them. Surely some people had also skipped the main quest and found easier quests to level up on their own.

They shared the same prefixes in their names, clearly indicating that they had arranged to play together with friends, or perhaps... were members of a guild.

Online games had already existed for many years. Quite a few games had been released, and there were many well-known guilds in the community. Professional gaming studios were also beginning to take shape, and their organizational abilities were certainly much stronger than those of solo players. Therefore, even without the "clearing the area" behavior of the villainous guilds often seen in online-game novels, they could still monopolize bosses simply through their technical skills and levels.

Ying Long watched for a while and understood the reason.

At present, all the small groups fighting over the monster had IDs beginning with Misty Rain XX. She would just call them the Misty Rain Family. After all, every ancient-style game had a Misty Rain Tower guild.

They had a Mohist disciple named [Silent Misty Rain], who had learned the sect-exclusive skill [Grassland Trap].

As the name suggested, this was a simple trap. When a monster entered its range, it would automatically attack. The giant python's aggro calculation was based on the first player to attack it. Afterward, as long as that player did not die, the aggro would not transfer.

[Party] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: They already stole the monster once. We failed to steal it the second time too.

[Party] Apothecary Exquisite: I understand. Wait until they finish this monster.

She was level 21. The other players had not yet entered the martial world and still had beginner protection, so they could not be killed. All she could do was watch them slowly grind away the giant python's health.

When it was close to 5%, the healer fully restored the health of the Mohist [Silent Misty Rain]. He went around the boss's attack range and ran back to the spawn point to place another trap. The giant python only dropped one herb at a time, enough to complete one person's quest, while their group had rented five spots. They would have to kill it at least five times before everyone had one.

Ying Long controlled Apothecary Exquisite to hide behind the grass and simultaneously placed a skill.

Drowsing Smoke.

The School of Medicine and the Mohist School were the only two professions capable of placing trap-type skills. Mohist traps and the School of Medicine's poison—perfectly reasonable.

If the two skills triggered simultaneously, the aggro calculation would be difficult to predict.

The giant python's health dropped to 3%. A powerful attack reduced [Silent Misty Rain]'s health to 20%. The healer used Acupuncture, restoring a large amount of health and bringing him back to 60%.

Ying Long locked onto him and gave him a small heal with Stop Bleeding.

[Current] Silent Misty Rain: Thanks.

[Current] Apothecary Exquisite: Your experience should be enough. Aren't you leveling up? You won't be able to withstand this otherwise.

She had just healed Silent Misty Rain, and she was also a disciple of the School of Medicine. Everyone knew that healers in games were generally weak support characters.

The members of the Misty Rain Family did not seem to have paid much attention to the announcement, or perhaps they had not remembered her name. Instinctively, they assumed she was a kindhearted healer. Silent Misty Rain looked at his experience bar. After killing two bosses, he had gained a tremendous amount of experience and could indeed level up.

The boss's aggro had been locked onto him the entire time. If he died, the trap would automatically become ineffective. It was safer to level up and increase his health first.

So without thinking about it, he clicked the level-up button several times.

[Party] Misty Rain Feifei: Wait!

Too late.

Light appeared around Silent Misty Rain. He had originally been level 17, and he shot up to level 20.

Ying Long saw the level behind his name change. The moment it became 20, she activated kill mode without a word. Sever Meridians and Burst Body were unleashed one after another. With the boss's attack arriving at the same time, Silent Misty Rain collapsed in an instant.

He did not even understand what had happened.

[Current] Silent Misty Rain: ???

But Apothecary Exquisite had already activated Spirit Flight Step and retreated. She used the newly learned Orchid Pointing Acupoint to stab the boss twice. This was a control skill with low damage, but it was enough to finish off the remaining health.

The giant python collapsed, and the python at the spawn point seamlessly followed, stepping directly into her Drowsing Smoke.

The boss entered a slowed state, and its aggro was locked.

Ying Long could already solo it at level 17, so at level 21 there was even less to say. She led it around in circles nearby, allowing Iron Horse Autumn Wind to slowly attack it while she shouted in the current channel.

[Current] Apothecary Exquisite: Paid quest help, join the party ^_^

[Party] Apothecary Exquisite: I'll kite the monster. Be careful.

[Party] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: [Awesome]

The boss would not respawn until it died. Ying Long nimbly circled around trees and rocks, obstructing the boss's attacks, while Iron Horse Autumn Wind took the opportunity to use his skills and slowly whittle down its health bar.

There were medicines in her inventory that had been given by the bound secret code. She took one whenever the cooldown allowed.

[Current] Silent Misty Rain: Shameless monster stealing!

[Current] Misty Rain Feifei: Have some dignity! You're killing people just because you level faster?

[Current] Misty Rain Heavy Tower: And you're charging money too? So poor you're crazy?

[Current] Apothecary Exquisite: Yes, my child hasn't eaten for three days. Surely you wouldn't bear to see someone starve to death in the twenty-first century, right? qvq

[Current] Apothecary Exquisite: Paid quest help, join the party. Pay after the monster is killed. Honest prices, no cheating.

[Current] Iron Horse Autumn Wind: You didn't call it shameless when you were stealing monsters. But when someone steals your monster, you lose your dignity? Hypocrites.

[Current] Cloud Garment Misses You: Stealing monsters is all about who has the ability. That's what you said yourselves.

Some of the spectators were around level 13, while others had not completed the previous two side quests and were simply trying their luck. Naturally, they were unwilling to pay. But there were also level-15 players who were only missing the final quest.

Their actions were much faster than those of ordinary players. They clearly were not beginners. With a little thought, it was obvious where Ying Long got her confidence.

The Misty Rain Family had stolen the monster several times just now using the Mohist disciple's trap. The other sects had no automatically triggered skills, making it almost impossible for them to steal the monster. Once there were more Mohist disciples, they would have even less chance.

Level 20 meant entering the martial world. Level 22 unlocked dungeons. Being one step behind meant being behind at every step, and there was only one boss.

Players who were not short of money immediately applied to join the party.

Ying Long let the familiar [Cloud Garment Misses You] join the party. When she saw that the python's health had fallen to 70%, she readily jumped out and hacked away at it.

Her level had increased, and her Intelligence attribute had increased accordingly, allowing her to kill the boss even faster than before.

—She did not forget to place a Drowsing Smoke beforehand. The instant the old boss fell, she immediately grabbed the aggro of the respawned boss.

[Party] Apothecary Exquisite: Pick up the chest.

Iron Horse Autumn Wind did not have aggro. He circled around and looted the package dropped by the previous boss.

Ying Long's party used leader distribution mode. Combat experience was shared, while dropped items were distributed by the party leader.

She gave the Heart-Tugging Grass to Iron Horse Autumn Wind and asked him to leave the party.

She activated her lightness technique, performed a backward jump to evade the python's area attack, and repeated the process of kiting the monster. She did not forget to send her payment code in the party channel while drinking another mana potion.

Cloud Garment Misses You had seen Iron Horse Autumn Wind's example. She did not delay and also paid the ten yuan in advance.

Ying Long saw that the money had arrived. With the service properly paid for, she killed the python within five minutes.

Of course, she did not forget to invite the next customer in advance and place Drowsing Smoke to steal the monster.

[Current] Misty Rain Feifei: You're already clearing the area and stealing monsters? Which guild are you from? How domineering. You don't treat ordinary players like human beings at all.

[Current] Apothecary Exquisite: You can turn red and kill me at level 20. Good luck ^_^

Ying Long casually replied to her, but in her heart, she knew that Silent Misty Rain, whom she had killed, was no longer lying on the ground.

He had returned to his sect to resurrect. The other two teammates were also gone. They were probably planning to turn in their quests first, level up to 20, and then come back together to take revenge.