Holy Crap, a Boss!

Scarab Sting (green, fine quality): dagger

Attack: 13-21　Attack speed: 1.6

Constitution +2　Strength +2　Agility +3

Equip: critical strike +1

Equip: haste +1

Required level: 10

Nice, nice. Finally, a weapon in my hands. No more fighting barehanded.

Humming a little tune, Ye Fengxing lured the other Scarab General over and finished it off too. This time, however, it dropped nothing good. His luck with loot was as rotten as ever! Commander-tier monsters were supposed to be almost guaranteed to drop something colored. Whether it was materials or equipment, there should have been at least one item, right? But when he checked the loot, all he got was a dazzling sea of copper...

Tossing the copper coins into his pocket, Ye Fengxing returned to his grinding spot and waited for the boss to spawn.

The field bosses in Chronicles of the Sky did not wander around out in the open all day, waiting for players to kill them. Usually, players had to keep killing enough lesser monsters in a grinding area before higher-tier monsters might spawn, and those monsters would appear in ascending order of rank.

Take Ye Fengxing's current situation, for example. He had killed all the commander-tier monsters, so if anything else spawned, it could only be a leader-tier monster. In other words, a boss.

These field bosses were not guaranteed to spawn either. It depended on their mood. Sometimes, they simply refused to appear, and camping there for days and nights would do no good. Perhaps His Majesty the Boss had taken a dislike to his minions. Killing them all just gave him a chance to replace the lot. The system supplied them for free, after all. He did not have to spend a single penny.

Ye Fengxing had learned about this mechanic during the closed beta. Stubborn as a mule, he had once camped a boss for over twenty days just to get a rare material... What was a madman? What was a lunatic? He was the perfect example.

Back then, Ye Fengxing had already reached the level cap and was decked out in purple equipment handed out by the system. Besides, his job was to find bugs, not play the game, so doing something stupid was no big deal. Now, however, he was genuinely playing for himself. Time was definitely not something he could waste at will.

Ye Fengxing silently made up his mind. Two hours, no more. If the boss doesn't spawn, I'm turning around and leaving!

He could not spend those two hours doing nothing, either. Thus, the nearby lesser monsters suffered another calamity. After a monotonous series of bangs, smacks, and booms, Ye Fengxing finally reached level 10.

"Goddammit, this Magic Missile really is useless." Sitting on the ground and eating a magical snack, he felt rather helpless.

Magic Missile had no special effects at all. It only dealt damage, which really was underwhelming.

"Could this be part of their plan to screw me over too?" Something suddenly dawned on Ye Fengxing. What mage reached level 10 with only two skills? And one of them was not even a combat skill. What a rip-off!

"I'll look again when I get back. There's no way I can't find a mage trainer." Ye Fengxing casually killed a few more mutant dung beetles, then dusted off his hands and prepared to leave.

Bzzzz- A strange buzzing suddenly rang out.

"Holy crap..." Ye Fengxing was astonished to see a flash of golden light beneath his feet. That brightness, that color... They were all too familiar! Boss, you're finally here!!

He twisted and leaped away from where he had been standing. Almost simultaneously, a gigantic dung beetle appeared in that spot. It stood roughly three meters tall and measured five or six meters long, with an incredibly dazzling red name above its head: King of the Scarabs.

"Well, you came right to me. Don't blame me for this." Ye Fengxing instantly perked up and fired a Magic Missile, offering it as a greeting gift for their first meeting.

Woooo- The King of the Scarabs let out a long howl and thundered after him, its advance shockingly imposing.

"Come on, big guy." As usual, Ye Fengxing picked up a rock and threw it. This time, he deliberately put a great deal of force into the throw. He was facing a boss, after all, and bosses had extremely high resistance to debuffs! They were immune to most ordinary crowd-control effects. He had no idea how this one would fare, so he would try it first.

The rock bounced several times off the King of the Scarabs' legs before falling to the ground. A debuff icon appeared above the enormous creature's head: crippled leg (movement speed reduced by 10%).

"Shit, you're that tough?" Ye Fengxing could not help swearing aloud. With the force behind that Mighty Throw, hitting a Scarab Guard Captain would have inflicted "rooted" (unable to move), at the very least. Even a Scarab General would have suffered a 70% movement speed reduction. Yet this "big brother" was only slowed by 10%. How the hell was he supposed to kite that? Getting out of there was the only sensible option!

An enormous black shape scuttled swiftly forward. Suddenly, white vapor burst from its entire body, and it became a blur, charging straight at him!

"Ashavante's Afterglow!" Seeing the creature's charge, Ye Fengxing knew he could not handle it, so he simply called on the great Eshavante.

Bzzzz...

Bzzzz...

Bzzzz...

The King of the Scarabs and every mutant dung beetle nearby knelt down, motionless, with skull icons over their heads. They had clearly been inflicted with "fear."

Fear: causes an enemy target to lose control and run wildly in all directions, or kneel motionless on the ground.

Fear was an extremely powerful effect. Several classes had skills that could inflict the "fear" status, and when used properly, they were devastating in PvP.

If he did not run now, when would he? Seizing the opportunity, Ye Fengxing took to his heels.

Ashavante's Afterglow did not last particularly long, only a mere fifteen seconds. Of course, "not particularly long" referred to its duration against monsters. Against players... If someone used a single skill in PvP to stop an opponent from doing anything for fifteen seconds, the players would absolutely report them en masse.

Once those fifteen seconds passed, the mutant dung beetles charged out menacingly behind their leader. Unfortunately, they had already wasted fifteen seconds, and Ye Fengxing's legs were not just for show. He was far away by then. When the swarm finally caught up with him again, another Ashavante's Afterglow sent them all to their knees.

This badass skill had a cooldown of only thirty seconds. It was a foolproof escape tool.

The King of the Scarabs was a leader-tier monster. Although its level was not particularly high, only 20, it was still a field boss. Creatures like this had an odd quirk: they just would not give up.

Generally speaking, a field boss would not easily let the first person who attacked it get away. Only if that person had a stealth-type skill and the boss truly could not find its target would it leave combat. Otherwise, until its target died, the boss would never stop!

After several rounds of pursuit, most of the lesser monsters automatically left combat. Only a few vanguard and elite monsters remained beside the King of the Scarabs, chasing him relentlessly.

When a boss spawned, a few random vanguard and elite monsters would generally spawn alongside it. The big boss was making an entrance, after all. It had to have some style! An entourage on all sides and minions in droves-that was what made a boss!

Many bosses were famous for the sheer number of their minions. Players often found these bosses even more troublesome, because fighting multiple targets put their teamwork to a greater test.

The King of the Scarabs' entourage was not particularly grand. It had brought only ten vanguard monsters, five elite monsters, and three commander monsters. Ye Fengxing was not worried in the slightest. A little farther ahead lay the Dragonkin Camp. Once they got there, these oversized bugs were dead!

A few minutes later, panting for breath, he finally found his people.

"You're back." Eske was actually standing at the camp's sentry post, craning his neck to welcome him.

"Boss, someone's bullying me. They even chased me right to our doorstep." Ye Fengxing looked like a pathetic coward who had suffered endless injustice, his voice full of misery. In truth, he could barely hold back his laughter and had to clamp his mouth shut.

"Where?" The towering half-dragon flew into a rage, his gaze instantly turning vicious and showing his true colors as a "foreman."

"Over there! It's them!" Ye Fengxing pointed ahead, playing the lackey to perfection.

"Goddammit, everyone, assemble!" Eske put the whistle hanging against his chest into his mouth and blew hard. Its piercing shriek immediately rang throughout the Dragonkin Camp.

Dozens of dragonkin immediately dropped their hoes and gathered beside Eske, even forming a neat line. Their "leader" shot one of them a meaningful glance. That fellow immediately jogged over to a small nearby mound, dug furiously for a few moments, and unearthed a large chest.

"Brothers, grab your weapons!" Eske ordered fiercely.

At their boss's command, the dragonkin laborers immediately swarmed around the chest and drew out swords, blades, and other iron weapons.

Ye Fengxing suddenly noticed that Eske's name had changed at some point. It now read: Dragonkin Guard Captain · Eske (commander).

Oh? NPCs can change jobs on the fly? And how did this guy suddenly turn into a commander-tier NPC? There's something going on here...

Looking again, Ye Fengxing received another surprise. Why had all the dragonkin laborers who picked up swords and blades changed their names too? They had become "Hastily Assembled Dragonkin Guard (vanguard)"!

"Brothers, charge with me!" Wielding two broad axes that gleamed coldly, Eske led the attack.

A dazzling red glow surged from every dragonkin guard. It was a buff called Morale Like a Rainbow.

Morale Like a Rainbow: greatly increases party members' attributes and their resistance to debuffs. You and your warriors will not fear pain, terror, or torment. You will press onward until you crush the enemy with overwhelming force!

This buff looked seriously badass! Increased attributes were one thing, but the important part was the extra resistance to crowd-control effects! More importantly, it actually lasted forty-five seconds! Most importantly, it could affect an entire group at once!!

A red glow rose from Ye Fengxing's body, and he immediately felt power coursing through him. Opening his attribute panel, he saw that all his basic attributes had risen by a substantial amount. Even his name had become "Dragonkin Guard Squad Leader · One Leaf Windwalk (elite)."

"Holy crap, you can do that? Interesting, very interesting!" Ye Fengxing instantly grinned. This change to the game's content was pretty good.

With his attributes boosted so much, he certainly was not going to keep cowering in the rear. A bunch of bugs had chased his ass for ages... Goddammit! Ye Fengxing was not made of clay. Of course he had a temper!

Drawing two large sabers with gleaming edges from the chest, he curled his lips into a cold sneer. Then he sprang into motion and charged forward like a ravenous beast!