[ Ark ] System Update

[ Host: Su Chen ]

Level: 13

Elemental Power: 970 (+220)

HP: 1,030 (+180)

MP: 950 (+150)

Defense: 245 (+165)

[ Level 21 Fireball ] : 1 second cast time, 1.5 second cooldown, Mana cost: 100. Skill Effect: Conjures a fireball that can be locked onto a target or an area and unleashes it. Damage: 970, Range: 20 meters.

[ Level 1 Lifesteal ] : 1 second cast time, 1 second cooldown; Skill Effect: Steal 100 points of the target's health, Range: 5 meters.

After putting on his equipment, Su Chen looked at his new attributes and nodded in satisfaction.

With close to 1,000 Elemental Power, coupled with a 2.3 downtime between his Fireball casts, his combat prowess had massively increased.

A regular Mage of the same level would probably be equipped with only a couple pieces of white rank equipment. By normal standards, reaching 400 points of Elemental Power was already considered to be rather impressive.

Aside from that, Su Chen also realized that he had gained 165 points of Defense after donning on the new armor piece. This made him feel much more at ease.

Moreover, this was only his level-10 equipment. Once he put on his level 15 equipment, his attributes will receive yet another massive power boost.

[ Xu Ruoxuan (level 30) : Level-10 forging blueprints huh? Hmm, is your subclass Heavenly Craftsman? ]

[ I do have some on my side, but it's not a lot. After all, studios like us make money by selling equipment that would increase one's combat strength. Making money via lifestyle class items aren't really our gig. ]

[ Just take this as a friendly advice, but with your amount of strength, it's perfectly fine for you to only focus on your main class. Try not to waste too much of your time on your subclass. ]

[ Hold on for a sec, I'll prepare the blueprints and their corresponding materials for you. ]

Once Su Chen had finished inspecting his new stats, Xu Ruoxuan sent him a new message.

It was not that Su Chen had not shared Xu Ruoxuan's line of thought. After all, based on his combat strength, it would have been a waste of talent had he focused too much on his subclass and ignored his main class as a result.

However, as a result of the transmigration system, his [ Heavenly Craftsman ] subclass had been given the potentially broken ability of reversing the success rates of enchantments and forging.

It was this mechanism that had convinced Su Chen to invest some time in his subclass. After all, unlike other craftsmen, Su Chen could focus solely on enchanting equipment and ignore the forging aspect of his subclass.

Not long after, Su Chen received another message.

[ Xu Ruoxuan (level 30) : Ignoring the blueprints that you've received back when you selected this subclass, I have here with me a different blueprint as well as the seven types of materials that are required to craft the item from the blueprint. I'll charge you 600 Gold Coins for the blueprint, and 700 Gold Coins for the materials. ]

After reading the message, Su Chen exchanged 1,300 Cold Coins for the blueprint and materials.

Naturally, Su Chen did not actually possess the blueprints that were supposed to be given upon selecting the [ Heavenly Craftsman ] subclass. After all, he had officially registered himself as a [ Beast Tamer ] back then.

Nevertheless, the blueprint would serve just fine as a stepping stone to raise his [ Heavenly Creation ] ability.

He then read the crafting requirements of the blueprint.

[ Earthen Wind Armor (white rank) ] :

1. 7.5 kilograms of fine iron

2. 20 Crescent Stones

3. ...

After looking at the blueprint, Su Chen immediately took out the tools and furnace that the transmigration system had provided him and started forging the equipment.

Although he had used the [ Heavenly Creation ] skill during the forging process, he did not actually need to follow the steps listed in the blueprint.

After all, his goal was to fail.

While Su Chen was busy failing his forging and raising his enchantment success rate in the process, a long notice from the system suddenly appeared across the Hualong Server.

[ Ark System ] :

1. We have detected that there are now 10 players who have reached level 50 and above. We will now implement a ranking board for the players of the Hualong Server, and we will also set up a level 60 sprint event.

The first player to reach level 60 will be rewarded with 200 Reputation points, 100,000 experience points, 500,000 Gold Coins, and 50 stat points.

The second player to reach level 60 will be rewarded with 150 Reputation points, 70,000 experience points, 300,000 Gold Coins, and 30 stat points.

The third player to reach level 60 will be rewarded with 100 Reputation points, 50,000 experience points, 150,000 Gold Coins, and 15 stat points.

2. The Guardian System has officially been implemented, and the event will randomly occur within the [ Ancient Town ] dungeon.

The Guardian will spawn in different locations based on player levels. The level brackets for each spawn point is as listed below:

[ Level 10 - 20 ]

[ Level 20 - 30 ]

[ Level 30 - 40 ]

[ Level 40 - 50 ]

[ Level 50 - 60 ]

A Holy Beast Guardian will spawn together with Ten Elite Guardians at each spawn point, and the player who lands the finishing blow on each Guardian will be the one who keeps it. Upon hatching, the Guardian is capable of participating in battles.

The spawn points of all Guardians will be announced 10 days after this announcement in [ Ark ] time. However, players can also learn of these spawn points in advance by collecting two map fragments.

Finally, to obtain these map fragments, players will need to kill bosses or complete quests.

...

A wave of emotions washed over the players upon reading the contents of the notice.

This was because the updates listed were earth-shattering.

The first change would affect the high-level players directly. Previously, players would create their own rankings and post them on the official website's forums. However, now that a clear hierarchy within the player base had been created, the developers from [ Ark ] had decided to officially set up a leaderboard.

Moreover, the rewards for the level 60 sprint event had also served as a massive incentive for the players.

50 stat points would yield an explosive growth in power for these high-level players. After all, it was equivalent to a 10-level increase in stat points! This was a massive boost that could not be easily replicated via equipment.

Aside from that, the bountiful Reputation points would also be useful for paving the way once the guild system came online. After all, one of the requirements for establishing a guild was to collect 1,000 Reputation points.

Meanwhile, the Guardian System was more akin to a carnival where all the players could freely participate in.

Despite existing since the start of the game, the Mount System was not particularly well-received by the player base. This was due to the Mounts' inability to participate in battles. Its only use was to shorten travelling times, on the off chance that players had run out of charges for their teleportation talismans.

However, the Guardians that were soon to come were a different breed altogether!

Better yet, Ark had even planned the new system with accessibility in mind. In order to prevent high-level players from trampling over low-level players, they had decided to split the spawn points into different brackets, which would no doubt enhance the gameplay experience of the low-level players.

After all, it would mean that low-level players would stand a chance to obtain a precious Guardian of their own. The attributes of the Guardian were the same1. With the Guardians at their side, players would be able to defeat their enemies much faster.

Of course, there was also a certain level of difficulty to this event.

After all, all players in the server would be competing for the same 11 Guardians within their brackets. The competition was bound to be tough, and not just that, players also needed to hunt for the Guardians' spawn point before everyone else.

The best possible scenario would be if no one had discovered any map fragments and that everyone would learn of the Guardians' spawn points at the same time via the system.

However, in the worst case, someone would have pieced together the map fragments and discovered the location of the Guardians in advance. Should that happen, that individual might camp at the spawn point and fight the Guardians as soon as they spawned, possibly claiming all Guardians for themselves.

Nevertheless, the fact remained that the notice had stirred quite the storm within [ Ark ]'s playerbase.

..

[ Badlands ] dungeon.

Si Luo and Si Weiwei were about to continue farming monsters and completing quests when they suddenly received the system's notice.

Si Weiwei immediately stopped in her tracks upon reading the notice.

She hesitated on what her next move should be.

She could either rush to level 60 first and claim the rewards from the level sprint for herself, or she could return to the [ Ancient Town ] dungeon to hunt for Map Fragments. The first option would increase her combat strength by a hefty amount, whereas the Guardian might become a powerful asset in the future.

However, the uncertainty and danger of obtaining a Guardian was far too great.

After all, the players above level 50 each possessed great combat prowess, and they were all back by major companies. The competition was bound to be fierce.

Si Weiwei was in a dilemma and she decided to take some time to ponder on the matter. After more than ten minutes, she finally made a decision and had come up with a plan.