Ice Queen

[Ding! Your Elemental Mastery bar is full. You received one Elemental Point.] 

Although Liu Ye didn't receive any experience or gold for killing a player, he was still able to train his Elemental Mastery. Flaming King and his buddies came in clutch with their arrival and helped him cover the last 8% left. 

Liu Ye didn't busy himself with stats just yet, and instead, decided to get moving. "Alright, I am ready. We can depart." 

Vice-leader Marco brightened at his words and dropped everything he was doing. "Perfect! Follow me! I will lead us to the Waterfall Mountains. It will take us an hour to get there so we better hurry. The Bandit Leader will return to this camp before sunset."

Liu Ye secretly hoped that Vice-leader Marco would whip out a Dungeon Key that would take them directly to the designated location but he was asking for too much. Thankfully, they immediately started running and they kept a good pace without stopping. 

[Time Left: 13:57:26]

They would still have around thirteen hours left to reach the dungeon so Liu Ye wasn't that worried. At the very least, he got some time to check his loot. 

[Ding! You opened a Player Bag.]

[Ding! You opened a Player Bag.]

[Ding! You opened a Player Bag.]

Liu Ye opened all three bags he picked up from killing players and almost tripped when he saw all the goods in his inventory.

[Medium Health Potion x21]

[Medium Mana Potion x21] 

[Small Health Potion x60]

[Small Mana Potion x174] 

[Waterskin]

[Fire Stone]

[Wolf King Necklace] 

[Mazamut's Ring]

[Mazamut's Ring] 

[Blessed Cookie x5]

He already expected to get a large amount of Mana Potions but that wasn't what shocked him. It was the three new items that he didn't expect to see. 

[Wolf King Necklace] [Locked]

[Description: A single wolf fang on a string carved entirely out of a Fire Stone! Beautiful piece. The markings on its base signal it was made by Arron, one of the best sculptors in the Fire Land. It's strange a bandit possesses one of his creations when he never sold a single piece. Could it be stolen? Be careful while wearing the necklace. You might be accused of being a thief.]

[Effects: The wearer gains 50% more Elemental Mastery with each Fire Ability used.]

[Requirements: Lvl. 25, Firebending, 5 Wisdom, 10 Intelligence] 

The first item Liu Ye saw looked strangely familiar to the one he found earlier, but that wasn't all. The second item was literally a replica of his Mazamut's Ring, but instead of granting +50% damage from Earth Abilities, it was Fire Element instead. 

Just this alone raised a red flag in his mind. 

The third item was the most useful to him as it wasn't locked and could be used right away. 

[Blessed Cookie x5]

[Description: A single-use cookie with unique properties.]

[Effects: Increases your Max Mana by 100 for the duration of 1 hour.]

"I think I get it…" Liu Ye muttered as he checked his inventory again. Each of these items came from a different player, and he also found one similar item. 

It could only mean the game buffed the chances of finding the first item, probably in hopes of enticing players to play more. Who wouldn't play at least till Level 25 if they had an overpowered item at hand? 

It also made the game interesting, giving players an opportunity to find unique quests. 

"Young man, we don't have all day!" Vice-leader Marco called out in a hurry, forcing Liu Ye to increase his pace. 

Although Liu Ye didn't mean to PK a lot, how could he resist such good items which he could use or sell for good money? Too bad, they only spotted players after they left the Red Zone. 

"Someone is coming!" 

Vice-leader Marco wasn't sneaky at all, running straight past the battlefield of three wolves and four players. One fireball even hit him but he took 0 damage and didn't even react to it. 

[Alpha Wolf - Lvl. 7 ]

[HP: 50/250] 

[MP: 25/70] 

Seeing such a low HP monster while passing by, Liu Ye just couldn't resist himself and shot three Ice Projectiles to finish it.

-18

-18

-18

[Ding! You killed the Alpha Wolf. You received 100 Experience and 1 silver.] 

"Hey!" The four players called out angrily but Liu Ye was already gone, running after Vice-leader Marco. They would receive the same amount of experience even if he didn't steal a kill, so it didn't matter. 

"Isn't he the guy from before? The one who caused us to get killed?" 

More and more players began to recognize him as Liu Ye ran through the newbie areas. Some even tried to talk to him by blocking his way, only to be brushed away without sparing them a glance. 

"Young man, we are entering a dangerous area," Vice-leader Marco warned after a long thirty minutes of running to reach the other side of the Waterfall Forest. "Watch out for spiders." 

Liu Ye could tell the place wasn't friendly when spider webs were hanging everywhere. The number of players within sight also lessened, and seeing the crawling spiders from afar, Liu Ye wasn't surprised by their choice. 

[Spider - Lvl. 3]

[HP: 30/30]

Five long-legged Spiders ran up to block their way with their eyes staring intensely at their prey. They looked like they came out from a horror movie, and any normal person would be too scared to face them. 

Liu Ye wasn't a normal person though. He didn't even stop moving as ten Ice Projectiles shot out and pierced into the Spider's bodies. 

[Ding! You killed the Spider. You received 10 Experience and 20 bronze.]

The experience he received was so minuscule that killing them wasn't even worth it anymore. 

"There is no need to kill them. They are too slow to catch up to us so we can just avoid them," Vice-leader Marco suggested as he continued to sprint. "We don't want to attract the Spider Queen with the sounds of a battle. That would be a bad idea." 

His words couldn't help but pique Liu Ye's interest. "Spider Queen?" 

"Yeah, she is a monster dominating this part of the Waterfall Forest. Usually, she hides in her lair and only comes at night to hunt so we should still be relatively safe right now," Vice-leader Marco explained as he gazed to the right. "It's best if you don't ever go in this direction. That's where her lair is." 

Ahhh!

Just as he spoke, they heard a female scream coming from that exact direction. Liu Ye's eyes immediately brightened as he just wondered what excuse he could use to check out that place. 

"Oh no! A woman in distress needs help! Let's go!" Liu Ye called out as he changed his path but Vice-leader Marco didn't take the bait at all. 

"Hell no! Since that woman went there, she was asking to be eaten! I'm not fighting that monster." Vice-leader Marco shook his head firmly with fear in his eyes. "I once saw that Spider Queen in passing. You can't even run away if you want to. She will catch you in no time." 

"What if she lost her way? Aren't you responsible as a guard for protecting the civilians of your land? The least we can do is check what is going on," Liu Ye said in an attempt to convince him. He then began running towards the source of the screams without waiting for an answer. "Follow me!" 

Thankfully, the AI didn't fail him, sending Vice-leader Marco after him. 

"Help!!!" 

The female's screams grew louder as they got closer. When they finally reached the scene, peeking from behind a small boulder, they saw a gigantic Ice Spider toying with a human body that hung upside-down on a thin line of a spider silk thread. 

To Liu Ye's surprise, the source of the scream was not a female NPC but another player. The spider monster spun around the thrashing body, wrapping her prey into a cocoon. 

[Ice Queen (Boss) - Lvl. 10] 

[HP: 1250/1250]

[MP: 450/500]

A real field boss!

"She is done for…" Vice-leader Marco whispered as he watched the Ice Queen in fear. "We should leave…" 

"Don't you want to help her?" Liu Ye questioned as he quickly opened his profile to unlock a new ability. 

[Ding! You unlocked the Small Ice Wall.]

[Small Ice Wall]

[Description: Creates a small ice wall to block enemy attacks. It is capable of absorbing 100 Damage. The damage taken will be different depending on the Element used.] 

[Cost: 5 MP]

He needed one defensive ability so he chose it over Water Boxing which wouldn't come of use against such a monster. 

"There is no way we can help her. We have to run before we get discovered," Vice-leader Marco argued. 

"It won't be able to see us since we are outside of its range—" 

Liu Ye paused mid-sentence as he suddenly realized the Ice Queen disappeared. He turned to search for her, only to freeze when he heard muffled screams coming right behind them.