idk
Chapter 104 - Attack!
As soon as they saw the wide open grassland, all the five demons instantly stiffened up and started looking around for rocks or giants.
The trauma from facing the several rock giants was still too fresh for them.
Even Liam was visibly shocked as he checked for the same thing. However, except for a few trees and a lake, nothing else was visible.
Just as they were looking around, a gentle breeze swept past them and some weird sounds came from the distant lake.
Amongst them, the small fox was the first to react, as it leaped towards the lake and started running.
"Hmmm?" Liam followed it as well and he immediately saw a group of water blobs jumping up and down near the lake.
[Water Slime]
Level 26
"Oh! Not bad!" He quickly prepared to attack. This time their luck had turned out to be quite good. These were monsters that they could easily slaughter.
More importantly, he observed a key fact. Though their destination seemed to be completely random, no matter where they landed, the beasts and the monsters were around their level.
They were only faced with things that they could handle. The elite rock giant farm and landing in the middle of a Kobold nest were extreme exceptions and tough challenges.
Even then, only one skilled member was required to ensure survival. But besides that, the others were not that difficult.
Considering all of this, Liam couldn't help but wonder about the awesomeness of the portal inscription.
These invasion missions were possible only because of the detailed magic engraved on the scrolls.
At his level, he couldn't even fathom the skill of the grandmaster who probably engraved this. There were so many intricate details that were required.
Not to mention the fact that the safety of millions of demon soldiers relied on this portal inscription.
A single mistake could produce catastrophic results and send squads to dangerous locations, resulting in their deaths.
Liam gazed at the several blue water slimes in front of him, completely different from the enormous rock giants. These looked like plushy dolls when compared to those monsters.
The way they sounded was also equally cute.
Gu Gu! Gu Gu! Gu Gu! Gu Gu!
The plump slimes bounced up and down on the ground, all running towards Liam. This time he didn't ask his pets to hold back.
These slimes were not really a threat. This kind of monster was in fact the best option available for unskilled noob players to grind and practice.
They had a weak defense, weak attack, and also weak agility. All in all, they were simply bags of experience points.
His two demon undeads, the fox, the bird, and the five squad demon soldiers all attacked together and slaughtered the plump blobs.
The sight of the grotesque shaped demons hunting the plump slimes was almost too comical to watch.
They also seemed to be giving it their all and fighting with full gusto, making all sorts of exaggerated grunting noises.
Even Liam was confused. "Did I do something to boost their morale?" He chuckled and started doing his part as well.
He had intended his actions to harbor some goodwill but he didn't expect the effects to be so exaggerated.
Ptu Ptu Ptu. The water slimes sent out small water bullets as attacks which were pretty heavy when combined together. They sliced through the air and did huge chunks of damage.
Liam waved his sword, blocking the water bullets easily, and then decided to return the favor. "Time to try out my improved fireball."
He was kicked out of the previous invasion before he could do this but now he had a lot more time left.
[Fire ball]
He first conjured a ball of fire in front of him and instead of sending it out at the nearest slime, he first compressed it quickly.The big ball of fire went from the size of a football to that of a small bullet. Liam gritted his teeth as he could feel the mental stress from manipulating the attack.
But he persisted and sent it out towards the slime.
Bang!
The slime was hit on its right side and almost half of its right side got pulverized, water droplets drizzling on the grass nearby.
-5000
An insane damage number popped up.
[Ding. A new skill 'Fire Bullet' has been created due to your actions]
Liam smirked. "Finally!" He sent in another couple of bullets aimed at the same slime and then used his sword to finish the rest of the health.
All the other demons and the two pets couldn't help but gasp at Liam's attack. Everyone became even more motivated and started rampaging on the pitiful cluster of slimes.
The frustration of not being able to fight back against the rock giants was taken out on the cute little blobs.
Hack. Slash. Bang.
Within a matter of minutes, the situation completely got reversed and the slimes started running away from the group of blood thirsty demons.
They tried to bounce and scatter in miscellaneous directions but the demons roared loudly and chased after them with vengeance.
They did not hesitate to even jump into the lake and finish the fight.
In the end, the group ended up cleaning the spot completely, without leaving behind a single slime. They did a run around the entire lake, taking care of each and every slime.
One of the demons jumped into the lake and swam around, even making sure that nothing was hiding.
The whole fight took about an hour and a half and it was about time for their portal to get activated.
"Gather everything and bring them back to me," Liam commanded and collapsed on the wet ground.
He was completely mentally exhausted after the continuous dodging in the previous invasion mission and now firing fire bullets nonstop.
So he rested on the ground as the demons scurried over to bring whatever was left on the ground. Soon a small heap began to form.
Liam had closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was pleasantly shocked!Chapter 105 - Up, Up And Up!!!
Liam hadn't paid attention to the drops when he had been fighting the slimes and now that he did, he was more than happy with the harvest.
Everything piled up in front of him was good stuff.
Slimes had the habit of engulfing high-grade items and slowly digesting them while they were held within their bodies.
So all sorts of good herbs and gems were present in the pile. There were even equipments like bracers, rings, and pendants.
Liam looked through the pile and then spotted a few things that he couldn't recognize. These were small blue-colored crystals.
When he picked them up by his hand, they immediately dissolved and went into his body. "Huh?" Before he could think about what happened, another notification came in.
[Ding. Congratulations. You have absorbed water elemental essence.]
[Ding. You have gained an affinity for the water element. All your water type attacks have 5% increased damage]
Liam immediately understood what had happened. He had received similar updates when he had absorbed fire essence back in the lava pool.
And this time, he had absorbed water essence. They had farmed around 550 or so water slimes and apparently, a few among them had dropped these water essence chunks.
He rummaged through the pile, segregating and tossing everything into his inventory. There were in total 5 chunks of water essence crystals.
He took one of the chunks near the spirit fox and the beast quickly shook its head. Kyuuuu.
[No master, bad.] The fox explained to Liam through their mental connection. "Why is it bad?" He tried asking, but the beast didn't have an answer for him.
It seemed like it simply instinctively knew that it was a bad thing and it shouldn't absorb it.
Liam nodded in understanding. Water essence being harmful to a spirit beast that relied on fire essence wasn't all that difficult to understand.
Unlike him, the fox could probably only absorb the essence of one element. So he didn't hold back and readily absorbed all of them.
He didn't notice any specific change but after he finished absorbing all the crystals, Liam felt a transient prickling sensation in his body that surfaced and also disappeared quickly.
"Hmmm… I wonder if there are any negative side effects of absorbing multiple elemental essences…"
"There are too many things I don't know about these. I should make a trip to the mage tower." He looked at the small fox eyeing him in concern and smiled, patting its head. "I am alright."
In his previous life, he had never heard about these elemental essences.
Slimes were rather common monsters found in different places but the drop rate of these essences seemed to be abysmally low.
Even they had to farm about 500 slimes of these just to get 5 essence crystals.
It looked like it was also possible to refine elemental essences using the help of spirit beasts but they were even rarer and there wasn't much information available regarding them either.
So it wasn't surprising to him that many people hadn't managed to come across these elemental essences. The significance of these was also not reported on any forums.
Liam continued patting the fox as he rearranged some plans in his mind.
There were many things like these essences and the invasion missions that he had to additionally factor in along with his original plan.
However, he didn't mind these as every single one of them only made him that much stronger.
A few more minutes passed in silence as everyone relaxed by bathing in the lake when the portal activated again and pulled the group back to the city square.
"Huzzzah!"
"Hazzzah!"
"Huzzah!"
The demons again started cheering for Liam and all the more so as he once again rewarded them with 15 silvers.
And instead of dispersing they kept staring at him with big puppy dog eyes, wanting to go for one more invasion mission.
Next to them, coincidentally another group as well arrived, returning back from their mission but those demons had completely different faces as if they had just now faced hell and had survived.
Numerous scars and wounds laced their bodies and some of them were even bleeding. They took one look at the boisterous group next to them and they felt aggrieved.
Liam's group, however, was all the more thankful for him. This would have been their condition also if he had not singlehandedly saved them from the rock giants.
So they stuck to him like glue no matter which direction he walked. In case he ran another invasion, they wanted to be first in line.
Liam chuckled. "It looks like my plan is working…? Let's see." He opened the mission notifications first.
[Ding. Limited Quest Completed]
[Ding. You have received 500 contribution points]
[Ding. All 5 soldiers have survived. You have received an additional 250 contribution points]
[Ding. You have received 100000 experience points]
[Ding. All 5 soldiers have survived. You have received an additional 50000 experience points]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
[Ding. Congratulations. You have reached Level 30]
Ding. Congratulations. You are the first person to reach Level 30. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]
"Oh!" Liam exclaimed as he pulled up the leaderboard. Unexpectedly, he had shot up to Rank 1 in just a few hours. The next person behind him was still stuck at Level 27.
He chuckled wryly and then closed all the notifications.
What an insane leveling speed! He still couldn't believe that no one had stumbled into this amazing honey pot.
Regarding the rank on the leaderboard, he didn't care too much about this as he knew that he would once again fall back.
He had certain important things that he needed to take care of and these could absolutely not be delayed.
"Time to log out. There are only a couple of hours left before the black market opens up."
Liam looked at the demons who were all staring at him wide-eyed. "I will be back later guys.. Make sure to rest well and be prepared in the meantime."
Chapter 106 - I Don't Stand In Queues
Liam had too many things on his mind. He returned to his room in less than an hour after finishing his dinner and ensuring that everything at home was working properly.
Mei Mei could only stare at the shut door as she had been taking a bath and missed him altogether. "Brother must be working very hard."
She wiped her hair and started reading more about the game and the different classes while eating her share of the food.
A couple of seconds later, she almost inhaled the food by mistake into the wrong pipe and coughed uncontrollably. "Liam?"
Mei Mei even rubbed her eyes not able to believe what she was reading. The current leaderboard's number 1 rank holder's name was 'Chang Liam'?
This was her brother's name!
Was it perhaps her brother who was currently the top-ranked player in the entire world?
"Should I ask him?"
"No. Not possible. Probably someone else." She shook her head. "I shouldn't ask such stupid things. He might feel bad that someone else with the same name as him is currently the first."
She put the plate down and sighed. "If only things were different…"
For people like them, who never had a single chance in their lives, how were such achievements possible?
"I should read more…" She quickly went back to reading about other things, scouring everything in the forums from top to bottom.
Back in the game, Liam received a surprise as soon as he logged in.
[Ding. Do you wish to enter the nether realm? Yes/ No]
He had originally assumed that he had to use the nether portal again, but it looked like this was also an option.
Liam quickly selected 'No' and found himself back in Yleka city. The city was now completely different from how it had been earlier and was jam-packed with players.
It looked like everyone who had started in the Gresh Kingdom was gathered in this city.
Liam knew that this was not an exaggeration as many important quests started in the royal city and Yleka city. These were the two main star locations in the Kingdom.
Land slots, stall slots, and not to mention guild slots, every single available acre of land in these two cities cost astronomical amounts.
Moreover, just money alone was not enough to buy these slots. There were also other requirements.
Liam casually strolled through the streets and since he had some time before the black market opened up, he decided to first pay a visit to the beast association.
Both his pets were ready to evolve. So this was also on his 'to do' list.
Liam walked into the gigantic beast hall which was in the shape of an octahedron.
This place was the bread and butter of hunter class players as they loitered here day and night for special quests.
All beast companions and even just pet beasts that players did not intend to use for combat cannot evolve and grow without the help of the beast hall.
This was because beasts required certain other things apart from simply experience points for their evolution.
Without these special materials, their growth would stagnate and they wouldn't be able to even gain experience points after a threshold.
Of course, if one already had comprehensive knowledge about their beasts, then there would be no need for that person to visit the beast hall.
They could even hunt and acquire the necessary items by themselves and evolve the beasts on their own.
Liam, however, unfortunately, lacked that knowledge.
Sure, he could possibly roam around the entirety of this realm and the other realms with his two beasts. He would then eventually stumble across some clues regarding their evolution paths.
But coming to the beast hall and directly talking to one of the trainers here was the simplest solution and Liam hoped that this worked.
He weaved through the crowd and stood in one of the many queues to meet up with the trainers.
"Hmmm… this looks like it is going to take a while…" Liam clicked his tongue and leaned towards his right and left to check out all the trainers.
His gaze then landed on a young woman who was blessed with good looks but not enough height. "This has to do." He then glanced at the fox lazily yawning next to him.
"Listen. Go to her and make your sad face. Actually, just go to her and play around, okay? Don't hurt her. She also won't hurt you. Do you understand?"
The small fox stared back at him, confused by his sudden command but Liam's words were its religion, so it quickly ran towards the trainer Liam had pointed to.
Kyuuuu
Kyuuuuu
Kyuuuuuu
The fox did a bunch of poses and within 2 seconds, a loud shriek sounded.
"KYAAAAAA! OH MY GOSH! You are so CUTE!" The short young woman ran out of her booth to come and pick up the small fox personally.
"Where did you come from?"
"Ahhhh~~ So soft~~"
"Will you be my cutie~~~ Ah~~~ Ah~~~"
She began nuzzling and rubbing the beast against her cheeks and the little fox became extremely terrified. Since its birth, no one had ever treated it like this... affectionately?
So it didn't know what was happening. It even became scared and looked at Liam anxiously. Masterrr…
Liam, however, casually stood on the side. It looked like he had no intention of helping it out.
In the end, the trainer's assistant was the one who finally came to its rescue. He spoke up, not able to bear it any longer. "Elder, that… everyone is watching." He reminded her.
The trainer immediately snapped out of her trance and flashed her eyes open. "Ahem. Ahem. Is this fox yours?" She looked at Liam and asked.
"Yes. I was fortunate enough to obtain it." Liam smiled politely and nodded. His plan worked and he was happy.
"I am Instructor Seraphina." The trainer muttered, still rubbing the fox to her cheek.
"If you want, I can help you examine this beast and see how you can nurture it and take care of it the right way."
Bingo!
"Yes, I would be very grateful for your help, ma'am." Liam smiled again.
Ignoring all the grumbling noises from those who had been standing in the queue for almost an hour now, the two of them walked into the booth.