“Oh?” Drako Yau twitched his brows. “Looks like the game’s giving us a treat.”
“You can pull the lottery if you have a firecracker? Then basically everyone’s in for the lottery.”
“No idea about the lottery rates though,” Zephyrwolf shrugged and said. This sort of event was rather common in various online games, and as a veteran in gaming, he was naturally familiar with it. “The chances are prolly pretty damn low. Apart from luck, strength will matter a bit too. More firecrackers, higher chance, dead easy.”
Danting chuckled. “Sounds interesting.”
Drako Yau clapped his hands and said, “Then let’s have a look at the levelling zones before we decide to spread out in groups or move together. It’s better if the zone’s a larger one too.”
“Goblin Forest, Starter Village, North-East Forests…” Zephyrwolf counted the zones one by one, but they were all rejected by Drako Yau.
“Starter Village’s the best choice, but it’s for starters, so let’s not trouble them. As for the others, they’re popular levelling zones for most players. They’ll definitely be crowded.”
“Ohoh, I’ve got a pretty good suggestion actually. Not sure if you guys dare to go there though.” Idyllic Poet smiled and looked at them with an almost provoking gaze.
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“What the hell is this place!” Zephyrwolf blabbered as he walked.
Under Idyllic Poet’s lead, they left the three major cities and entered a region that hadn’t been officially introduced by the game officials.
“Lil’ Wolfie, you scared?” Idyllic Poet covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled while sending a glance at Zephyrwolf behind her.
“Who… who says I’m scared! Damn! Who’s scared!”
Seeing Zephyrwolf getting all pumped up, Drako Yau sighed and thought, Men, really…
“It’s not public because most players haven’t reached the level to come here yet, but to the higher levelled players, this place isn’t exactly a secret at this point,” said Idyllic Poet. “You aren’t thinking that there’ll be new dungeons for levelling up right? The wilderness is also a major part of the map.”
“Most known regions on the map are for players below Level 20. The place where we’re going is for those who’re Level 20 or above. There’ll obviously be fewer players, but the monsters are way more dangerous too. My fellow kids who are still at Level 19, will you two be fine?”
Idyllic Poet switched her target to Drako Yau this time. Danting who was walking alongside his boss immediately said without knowing what she was implying, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect the boss!”
Even Drako Yau was short on tricks when it came to dealing with his woman; he couldn’t really scold her, nor could he beat her up.
“Just focus on leading the way, or I’ll deduct your salary.”
“Yes boss.” She made a gentle bow, ignoring the fact that the move revealed her abyss-like cleavage, then chuckled as she walked up front.
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“Ahem… Poet, did you really have to turn up your collar? It’s revealing a bit too much…”
“Then boss should pay for my outfit items!”
“Ahem…”
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As they ventured further into the region, the group started encountering monsters.
“Ha!”
Danting made a tremendous slash at a monster that resembled a tiger, depleting it of its last bit of Health. Zephyrwolf grumbled, “You’re doing all the fighting, there’s nothing for us to do.” Danting only giggled before tottering over to Drako Yau to get praised.
Drako Yau was in a bit of a grim mood; the monsters here weren’t comparable to that of dungeon monsters, but their strength lay in their levels. He intentionally let a monster hit him a while back—though Danting immediately got mad and cut it into pieces—and its attack was almost surprising.
The monsters were around Level 25, five levels higher than he was. Although he didn’t have a Health bar for reference, he could still tell that much from their attacks. It was understandable why the map wasn’t publicly announced yet: casual players would get killed for venturing into this area.
“Everyone, welcome to the Highlands of John.”
Highlands of John was an extremely large region for levelling up until Level 30. It was further divided into various zones, and with Idyllic Poet’s level, she had only scouted out several of the many zones.
As the group walked, they could already see the new year bogeys. There wasn’t much to say about the bogeys; they were no different from ordinary monsters apart from being very noticeable because they were red, the symbolic colour for new year celebrations. Some would attack with their tongues which had the words “Great Fortune and Favour” on them, some spewed firecrackers… Regardless, everything was new year related. The firecracker ones were the worst—they self-exploded before death.
It was as Idyllic Poet had told before; not a single player was present apart from them.
After all, less than twenty per cent of players in Real World had reached the Level 20 threshold, and the Highlands of John was designed to house hundreds of thousands of players.
It was not as though it didn’t have any disadvantages as well. The entire place was swarmed with monsters which spawned in fairly tight groups. If they didn’t have Idyllic Poet, the crowd damage dealer, they would be hard-pressed to venture further.
Drako Yau was extraordinary in combat techniques, but with not a single skill at his disposal, he had basically no way of dealing area-of-effect damage. Zephyrwolf’s warrior class only had Crescent Slash and Trembling Slash which could damage multiple targets within a small range. Greenstone was a cleric, so there wasn’t much to say about him either.
With that in mind, only Danting and Idyllic Poet remained. The Magic Swordsman class was truly overpowered, equipped with both melee and ranged skills which made Zephyrwolf drool, but it was still lacking when compared to mages, the true champions of area-of-effect damage.
Idyllic Poet was enjoying herself as she shrouded herself in flames while making chilly laughs of a queen. The four men sent glances at each other and said the same words in their minds: Don’t piss women off.
Idyllic Poet seemed to have surmised their thoughts and gazes. She sent a good long look at the men and made a bright smile at them, which only made them shudder in their hearts further…
Anyways, with Idyllic Poet’s spectacular performance, they continued their journey further into the highlands while racking up firecrackers for the event lottery.
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Somewhere in the Highlands of John, two forces coincidentally encountered one another, but the atmosphere was pretty tense. Standing between the two forces were a man and woman.
“Hoho, Chief Chun, your alliance is a powerful force with great members and outstanding accomplishments. Let this weak lady use this place, will you?” A charming lady with an outfit that was even more revealing than Idyllic Poet chuckled. Her dress fully displayed the smooth, white skin above her collarbone, and the tiny mole next to her lips only made her even more bewitching.
Sky Chun snickered, clearly not impressed by her soft and gentle words. “Dakki, we’re old enemies at this point. You’ve used this thousands of times already. Perhaps I might be seduced for the first few times, but now?”
“We’re old friends, so… give this place to me just once… please…” Dakki bit her cherry lips and sent a coquettish gaze at him. The members of Sky Chun’s guild, Sky Dominion, all found their hearts pounding at the stimulating scene.