Orange light was something every player who had played Light of Freedom would recognize. Orange items might be scarce, but even if you had never eaten pork, you had at least seen a pig run-there was never a shortage of smug show-offs flaunting their awesome gear in the main cities. As soon as one left, another arrived. Sometimes they even put on group exhibitions.
Back in the day, a certain someone had led a pack of his rowdy buddies through fierce opposition to win the fifteen-player team championship in Light of Freedom's official tournament! Afterward, unable to withstand the collective egging-on of their guildmates, the bunch had mounted their officially awarded Six-Winged Golden Dragons and lined up in three rows in Holy Emperor City for the guild members to take souvenir photos.
Naturally, this caused a huge uproar, and Holy Emperor City was soon packed! The spot where those shameless show-offs struck their poses was especially crowded, with barely room to breathe...
What had everyone come to see? Some were just there to join the crowd, and some wanted to watch idiots show off, but most had come to see the equipment.
Winning an official tournament championship was not something skill alone could guarantee. You also needed some seriously awesome equipment backing you up.
It was no exaggeration to say that all fifteen members of Ye Fengxing's team wore orange gear from head to toe! Two of those "bastards" even possessed silver-quality weapons: Ye Fengxing and Lan Xi. Wherever those two shameless show-offs stood, they were the center of attention!
Chronicles of the Sky used the same item-quality system as Light of Freedom. The two games shared the same lineage, and many of their mechanics were extremely similar. The only difference was that one was nearing its twilight, while the other was rising like the morning sun.
Orange-quality items were "legendary." Put plainly, they were "things with no precise record in the epics, known only through myth." Whether equipment, materials, or anything else, if it was orange, nothing more needed to be said. The moment it appeared, the vast majority of players would go crazy chasing after it!
"Goddamn it, it's just a class-change quest in the teens. Does it really need to be this exciting...?" A certain someone rubbed his temples in "agony." Seriously... being allowed to look at something this good but not take it... how torturous was that...?
Ye Fengxing was a gaming veteran who knew exactly how game designers thought. Those twisted bastards had never intended to let players enjoy their games in peace. Take quests, for example: they often put something wonderful right in front of you, with mechanisms, traps, bosses, and all sorts of other things lurking nearby. Whoever dared touch it was in for trouble!
No matter how twisted, tedious, or disgusting a quest plot might be, those guys could dream it up! You simply could not fathom what they had stuffed into their heads...
Back when Ye Fengxing had worked through his Silver Weapon quest chain, it had taken him a full six months. He had quested day and night until his brain went numb! When the Silver Weapon finally emerged and the announcement flooded the server, the entire guild had erupted! A Silver Weapon was absolutely not something one person could create alone. That weapon embodied the efforts of countless people!
Lan Xi had suffered even more. It had taken him eight whole months to make his Silver Weapon, consuming untold quantities of materials, money, and more... Compared with everything else, though, those were actually minor concerns. The time and energy invested by the maker and his supporters were what truly mattered. Anyone who had not experienced it could scarcely imagine what it was like.
The orange glow before him looked unimaginably tempting, but Ye Fengxing did not dare act rashly... It was an orange item, after all. Who knew what might be lurking around it?
Ye Fengxing would bet that if he went up and messed with it, he would bring death down on himself! Even if that level 90 boss shamelessly appeared at once and killed him in a single hit, he would not be particularly surprised.
It was not as though he had never encountered that kind of "shameless" stunt before... Blue Star's game designers were all sneaky little bastards like that. Every one of them designed quests with the intention of "making you sick, making you miserable, and leaving you crying for Daddy while cursing Mommy." It was easy to imagine what sort of things they would come up with.
While Ye Fengxing was pondering a way to investigate, he suddenly felt the ground tremble a few times.
"Huh? An earthquake?" He glanced down at the ground but found nothing unusual. Looking up, he saw that the level fifty- and sixty-something big shots had all run far away, as though avoiding something.
Suddenly, a milky-white radiance shone from beneath the bone chair, and the huge stone platform began to shudder. The tremors were not particularly strong, but they continued without pause. Who knew what was going on?
Meanwhile, the Ghostly Guards who had retreated far away were huddled in the corners, trembling. They seemed terrified of this phenomenon.
As the milky-white light flickered, the rotten-green gas shrouding the stone platform gradually thinned. Finally, it formed a huge, spinning cloud and slowly faded away.
Ye Fengxing had sharp eyes. He noticed that the rotten-green gas had not actually vanished-it had been sucked into the bone chair! The chair was now pitch-black with a deep, inky-green tint, and it looked downright frightening.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Whatever happens, I'll go up and take a look first. It's only a game, anyway. If I die, I die! Ye Fengxing frowned slightly and stepped onto the stone platform.
System notification: You are affected by "plague of death," losing 20% of your Health Points per second.
Holy shit! Ye Fengxing swore inwardly and immediately backed off.
This fucking thing... isn't that a little too brutal? Twenty percent every second! Doesn't that mean I'll be dead before I even reach that giant bone chair? And if I die on the platform, how am I supposed to revive? I'll just die again as soon as I get up...
Which bastard designed this? What a fucking scam! Ye Fengxing seethed with indignation.
After several more cautious attempts, he reluctantly declared his plan a failure. There were over two hundred meters between the edge of the stone platform and the bone chair. How was anyone supposed to cross that? Fly?
Ye Fengxing did not know whether Chronicles of the Sky allowed players to fly during combat. Perhaps it would be possible later, but there was no chance early on. Unless you rented a flying mount from an NPC, flying was out of the question.
What do I do now? Should I go out and bring a healer back? He considered his options. If all else failed, he could summon Brick. They could each bring a few bottles of "Fleetfoot Potion," heal as they ran, grab the item, and get out.
Even if they could not escape, it would still be worth it! They could corpse-run, revive, and head straight back to the city. Compared with an orange item, what was experience worth? Absolutely nothing!
"Bricky, you there?" As he thought, Ye Fengxing sent Brick to the Face a private message.
"Wait. Busy." Whatever he was doing, it took him ages to reply.
"Busy, my ass! This is important. Stop playing dead!"
"Call me Brick. Don't copy Little Kong."
"Bricky." Ignoring Brick's objection entirely, he continued, "Has your mentor taught you any stealth skills?"
"Have you got a fever or something? I'm a missionary. How would I learn stealth?"
"Never mind. You can go die now."
"Screw you!" Brick shot back indignantly, then returned to whatever he had been doing.
Now Ye Fengxing really had a headache. Anyone without stealth skills could not even get in here... Never mind all the level 60 elites inside. Just look at those two level 55 gatekeepers at the entrance. Hmm... even if a thousand players lined up and charged in, they would be cut down one after another, with no survivors.
If nothing worked, he would have to head back first and discuss it with a few trustworthy friends. With everyone putting their heads together, perhaps they could come up with a solution.
Having made up his mind, Ye Fengxing took out a Return-to-City Talisman and prepared to leave. No matter how skilled he was, he could not farm the monsters here anyway. Staying would only waste time.
A private message suddenly flashed. Ye Fengxing canceled the Return-to-City Talisman's cast bar and opened it. It was that girl Yun Xixue.
"You big pervert, you're already level 10? Where are you? Do you have time to come help my sister and me level?"
Ye Fengxing smiled faintly. He really had to hand it to this girl. Not long ago, she had been threatening to beat and kill him, yet now she was messaging him first in such a sweet, charming tone. He truly could not understand what went through her head.
Without a second thought, Ye Fengxing replied, "I'm in the Dragonkin Starting Village. What's up with you two? Did you only just start playing?"
"Yeah. My sister's been busy these past few days, and she insisted I wait and start with her. I was bored to death. We only just finished creating our accounts."
"Really? Then I'd better flood the announcements right away. Our two great leaders from Cloud Pavilion have finally graced Chronicles of the Sky with their presence! Veterans and newbies, hurry up and line up for an audience."
"Are you asking to die?" Yun Xixue sent a voice-chat invitation straight over. Apparently, she intended to have a thorough "discussion" with him.
"Well, what instructions does the Second Young Miss have for her humble servant?"
"Ye Fengxing! How many times have I told you? Don't call me the 'Second' Young Miss!"
"Yes, I shall obey the Second Young Miss's decree!"
"You..." When it came to shamelessness, the girl on the other end could clearly only defend herself, not fight back.
"Pervy Ye, can you answer a question for me?" Left with no other choice, the Second Young Miss Yun changed the subject.
"Go ahead. What question?"
"May I ask your venerable self's esteemed age?"
"I remember telling you. I'm twenty-five."
"Oh, please. Can you tell the truth for once?"
"Well... that really is the truth." Ye Fengxing sighed. Faced with the Second Young Miss Yun's doubts, he had to admit he felt an urge to burst into tears.
Girl, don't put me down like this. I'm telling the truth! Why are you rejecting it so decisively? Why...?
"Tch. If you don't want to say, forget it. Honestly, we've known you for four years, and you still won't tell us the truth. You're 'such' a good friend."
"All right, I was wrong. Second Young Miss, whether you want to beat me or punish me, I'm entirely at your mercy."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then here goes. Your punishment is... telling me where you are."
"I told you. I live in Shanghai."
"Hey, you're wriggling out of it again! You said you'd accept your punishment."
"How do you know I'm definitely not in Shanghai? Did you actually check?"
"We..." Yun Xixue started to argue, then stopped herself, apparently afraid of letting something slip.
"No way. You two..." Ye Fengxing was secretly amused. This Second Young Miss Yun simply could not keep anything to herself. Sometimes, her cleverness was astonishing; at other times, she took being all boobs and no brains to such extremes that he was left speechless.
"We're not as bored as you think, okay?" The girl stubbornly denied it.
"Okay." Ye Fengxing did not call her out. He continued, "Believe it or not, I've told you."
"You..." At a loss for words, she could only huff, "So are you coming to help us level or not?"
"When the First and Second Young Misses command me, how could this humble servant refuse? But I'm doing my class quest right now and can't leave. Can you wait until I finish?"
"That's more like it. You'd better hurry. Plenty of people are lining up to help us level." With that, Yun Xixue closed the private-chat window.
"Of course I know..." he muttered, secretly laughing at how proud and prickly she was. Even before leaving, she had not forgotten to show off a little. Really, what gamer did not know the Yun Sisters' "standing in the community"? There was no need to elaborate.
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