Apparent Expert in an Alternate World

The charm of online games was the interaction between players, and without this aspect, the lifespan of these games would quickly reach their end.

<Magic Online> was the most popular online fantasy game in the past; however, today all the players had abandoned it and immersed themselves in another brand new online game. As a result, there was only a single player that remained logged in throughout the entire game of <Magic Online>

Rare items, including skill books, magical beast crystals and cores, magic scrolls, dragon crystals, dragon bones, and forbidden magic scrolls were scattered around the spacious plaza. Chu Nian busied himself as he continuously picked up the items and - without even a glance - he stuffed all the items into the strongest spatial artifact that rested on his wrist: the Blackhole.

"With just ten bucks, I can live the life of a top-ranked expert in <Magic Online>. That's so refreshing!" Chu Nan happily looked at his lonely surroundings.

Just a few days ago, he was merely an ordinary nameless player in <Magic Online>, and he had always dreamt of becoming a top player.

Following the news of the game's closure, the value of all in-game equipment had instantly plummeted, and even high-leveled accounts had become worthless.

In order to satisfy his dreams of becoming an expert, Chu Nan had contacted the owner of the top player in <Magic Online> through several different channels. Luckily, he managed to purchase the soon-to-be scrapped account for only ten bucks.

As he looked at the top few weapons on the ranking board in his spatial bracelet - which were respectively the celestial sabre, celestial sword, celestial bow, magic staff, as well as other top-notch equipment - he was too busy to throw away the trash items the previous owner had accumulated. He immediately took out the celestial sabre, Starbringer, and dashed out of the city.

Today was the server's last day and he had to make good use of his time to fully satisfy himself with the account of an expert! In particular, the account he was currently logged into was the sole expert throughout the entire server that had cultivated both magic and battle aura. The character's powerful battle aura stats and archmage-level skills were the envy of many in the past.

Following the sound of a fierce roar, a lower-intermediate level BOSS, the Ultramarine Devil, had blocked Chu Nan's path.

"Why the f*** are you shouting? Do you still think I am the same player that would escape with my tail between my legs a few days ago?"

Chu Nan gently caressed the strongest staff in <Magic Online>, the 'Edenchange'. Seven exquisite gemstones of different attributes were inlaid in various positions of the staff, and sixteen charms of different representations occupied other areas. On the wand's tip inlaid a glistening rainbow crystal that was known as 'the Devourer'.

Many staffs in <Magic Online> could unleash forbidden spells, but they were imperfect as only one or two types of spells could be cast. Edenchange was the sole exception since it could unleash seven different types of forbidden spells. Not to mention, it was also the staff with the shortest cast time.

Looking at the long text of various abilities of the golden staff, Chu Nan felt a wave of excitement. "30% increase in casting speed for thunderstorm skill, +1 level for thunderstorm when cast! OMG! @#$%…"

The Ultramarine Devil sensed the contempt that radiated from the human before it and furiously roared. Its massive claws that could smash stones into dust had aimed towards Chu Nan's head.

"Who do you think you are?"

A golden energy shield covered his body and crimson clouds covered the skies. A huge flaming meteorite descended from the skies and the Ultramarine Devil released a pitiful cry before it turned into a burnt corpse, dropping several pieces of gold equipment. With its last day of operation, the game administrators no longer cared about the treasure drop rate. Even if a player had killed a chicken and obtained good equipment, no one would pay them any attention as the servers would close soon enough.

Chu Nan quickly put away the reward he obtained from killing the BOSS and looked up to the skies as he released a roar. "Refreshing! It's too refreshing! The only player in the game who can dual cultivate magic and battle aura is indeed extraordinary!"

He looked at his current character with admiration. This was the ultimate prize given to the top ranker of <Magic Online> after consecutively completing SSS level missions for more than a month. The character's body and race had been changed into the offspring of a five-elemental elf queen and the human's god of war.

The character's perks included inheriting the elf queen's control and perception of elemental powers as well as the human god of war's powerful physique - becoming a powerful hybrid offspring with the attributes of two different races. It was precisely this reason why this player could become the sole expert in the game that possessed both magic and battle aura.

With a casual wave of his hand, Chu Nan picked up the treasures on the ground and started to filter through the items.

Gold equipment? Don't want it. Dark gold equipment? Don't need it. Blue equipment? Nah!

After going through a rigorous selection process, only a pair of white equipment remained. It was an iron ring that had no other use but to be used as decoration.

As he looked at the extremely ordinary ring in his hand, Chu Nan's mouth curved up slightly. The interior of his dark-colored equipment had faintly released a faint purple light and in an instant, the light rapidly expanded and a purple flame around the size of a human head had burned near his chest. When set in contrast against the pitch-black battle armor, the flame appeared exceptionally dazzling.

"Is this what they call turning the foul and rotten into the rare and ethereal?"

Chu Nan smiled and looked at the lump of purple flame in his palms. Together with the ornamental ring, he took out a red flame crystal and threw it into the purple flame.

The magic crystal and the ring rapidly swirled around in the purple flames and constantly collided against each other. In the end, the magic crystal melted into liquid and melded into the ring. As for the somewhat dirty ring, it released a blinding red light.

Ding…

With a crisp notification sound, the magic crystal had completely melded into the ring and the purple flame returned to his body, whereas the ordinary iron ring radiated a hint of red light.

With the Fiery Fire Fox ring, the freeze duration would be reduced by half for freezing magic below human-grade level 5 and the wearer could instantly release a level 1 fireball with a limit of 10 uses per day. Also, there was +10 to magic damage without any level restriction.

The Alchemy King's soul flame! A unique skill of the top ranker in <Magic Online> that was rewarded after the completion of a super quest. With the soul flame, a player could combine equipment and materials. As the player's level increased, the difficulty level of crafting equipment would also increase.

It was not a simple feat if a player wanted to become the top expert in a game. The Alchemy King's soul flame was said to be the secret weapon of expert players in the past. While other players were killing BOSSes and praying for them to drop suitable weapons for them, the top player of the game was constantly killing magical beasts to obtain magic crystals and dragon crystals.

After this, he would then use the soul flame to combine those crystals with low-quality equipment and created more powerful equipment. This was also the reason why Chu Nan discovered that the top player's spatial ring was only filled with magic crystals, dragon crystals, and a pile of magical beast hearts - also known as magic cores - which could fetch a good price if sold in markets.

If someone could forge equipment with the Alchemy King's soul flame, they could very easily become wealthy in the game. Moreover, it would then be much easier to become the top ranker compared to other players.

"So it turns out that the magic crystal was a low-grade fire fox crystal."

Chu Nan kept the first ring he had personally crafted. Among the three grades of heaven, earth, and human, human-grade items were the weakest. However, the ring was crafted using trash materials and despite that, it did not have any level restrictions on its effects and abilities. This was something unprecedented even with celestial weapons and as a result, it could be regarded as an accessory of the best quality among low-grade equipment.

"So what if I had killed the Ultramarine Devil? Right now, I shall go and hunt the final BOSS of the game, the Genesis Shritz God!"

Chu Nan held a sword in his left hand and a staff in his right and waved the ring that allowed him to fly - all while his confidence hit the roof. With his body covered in dazzling battle aura, he flew into the nearby Shritz Forest at an extremely fast speed.

Meanwhile, a technician in the game's headquarters had gently pressed the Enter key on the keyboard and tried to calm himself. He stood up and said, "The game servers have been completely shut down."

There was a wave of silence throughout the headquarters. The game that they had worked on for several years had ended just like that.