Chapter 142: Murong Shanshan's Party Wiped Out?

By the time we finished shopping, it was already noon, and it seemed too late to go back for lunch. So, Xinyu suggested eating out. As a result, a high-end hot pot meal cost me several hundred bucks. Fortunately, I had my five-million-dollar debit card with me, so this little sum wouldn't hurt my finances. However, what puzzled me was that while Xuehan was equally wealthy, she never once offered to pay the bill. After I asked her about it, I learned that she thought the way I swiped my card looked very handsome.

When I got back to my place, it was already 1:00 PM. That was when I remembered I still needed to push straight to level 45 today.

After taking care of nature's call in the bathroom, I immediately went back to my room and logged into the game.

Many of the grassland elves on the Silver Moon Plain had already respawned. The moment I logged in, they swarmed toward me immediately. Startled, I hurriedly sprinkled some fluorescent powder and entered stealth mode. At that moment, a text message from Murong Shanshan arrived: "Lin Fan, I'm taking some guild members to Dragon Valley to slay dragons. Send me a text when you get online! —— Shanshan."

I checked the time; the message had been sent at 10:00 AM. So, I quickly replied: "How is the dragon slaying going? Do you need me to come over?"

After a few minutes, Murong Shanshan replied: "No need. We only set out at 11:30. It's been an hour and a half and we haven't reached Dragon Valley yet. By the time you get here, we'll probably be almost done fighting."

"Well, can you reveal what kind of dragon you're fighting? What level is the boss?"

"Hee hee, it's a level 70 Gold-grade boss. It's not a very powerful dragon—just the lowest-tier wind dragon outside the valley, the poisonous kind. I think we should have no problem handling this."

"You'd better be careful. Dragon-type bosses are definitely different from others. A level 70 boss might have the might of a level 100 boss. Anyway, if you find you can't beat it later, remember to run first, or else losing a quarter of a level's EXP won't be worth it."

"Got it! Go do your own leveling first. I'll contact you after dinner~"

...

Closing the communicator, I easily cleared out a patch of monsters and leveled up to level 44. At this point, level 46 monsters didn't grant much EXP anymore, so I immediately made up my mind to check out Silver Moon Mountain. Right now, Silver Moon Mountain was considered a restricted zone by players because the monsters were too ferocious. If I could find a suitable leveling spot for myself there, that would be great.

The Silver Moon Mountain Range was situated right beside the Silver Moon Plain. At the left corner of the plain, there was a huge open expanse that perfectly connected three large leveling maps: the Silver Moon Mountain Range, the Silver Moon Valley, and the Silver Moon Plain. If I were to apply for a guild territory, this place would be my prime choice!

Along the road to Silver Moon Mountain, I could still see quite a few members of the Sword and Rose guild at first, but gradually they became fewer and fewer. When I reached the foot of the mountain, the place was already desolate, with only various bizarre-shaped monsters roaming back and forth between the woods and the mountain paths.

Most of them were still level 46 monsters. I didn't linger and headed straight up the mountain.

I tried my best to avoid the main path of Silver Moon Mountain. Although basically no players had the ability to level up here right now, I still needed to be cautious. Any player who could make it here at this stage was definitely a top-tier expert. If someone were to target me—a notorious player with a bright red name—it would spell trouble. My current situation was quite awkward: a red-named player killing a white-named player increased one's crime points, but a white-named player killing a red-named player was considered a heroic act of justice. Before I could wash away my red name, I didn't want to kill anyone else.

Passing through a dense patch of coniferous forest, ahead lay another relatively wide open space where numerous small monsters wandered among red flowers and green grass.

I looked around. Huh? A faint cry for help was actually coming from the bushes on my right!

Parting the brush, I saw an elderly man in tattered clothes leaning against a thick tree. He held a small shovel in his hand—very similar to the miner's small shovel I got when I did my quest, though noticeably shorter. It probably wasn't meant for mining.

A newly woven grass basket lay overturned at the old man's feet, spilling out quite a few withered medicinal herbs.

Darn it! There were actually people gathering herbs in a place like this? Traditional Chinese medicine and herbology really had a long and profound history!

The old man's breathing was very weak. Seemingly sensing that someone had arrived, he raised his head, a glimmer of hope appearing in his dazed eyes.

Oh boy! I sighed heavily. This guy must have been crying out for help for over a month since the game started. Such immense patience! Judging by his condition, he wouldn't kick the bucket anytime soon.

"Young man..." His breathing began to grow somewhat hurried.

I still possessed the virtue of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young, so I quickly ran over and asked, "Old man, what's wrong?"

The old man coughed heavily twice and touched his left leg with his right hand. Only then did I notice a huge patch of black bruised blood around the ankle of his left leg. The bloodstain trickled from his trouser leg all the way down to the ground, staining the grass and soil beneath him a darkish hue. A faint, sickening smell of blood drifted over in waves.

I immediately asked in surprise, "Old man, how did your leg... get injured?"

"Cough, cough..." The old man let out a long breath and said, "I am Trant, a court apothecary of the Silver Moon Kingdom. Three days ago, I came up the mountain to gather a rather rare medicinal herb. Who would have thought I'd get stung by a poisonous man-eating flower on the mountain, which is why I've been trapped here all this time. Now I no longer have the strength to return to the city. Can you do me a favor?"

The quest was here! The long-awaited quest prompt!

Ecstatic, I immediately clicked the confirm button.

"Cough, cough... The venom of this man-eating flower can be cured. At the edge of the woods, there are quite a few small monsters that like to collect rare herbs. If you defeat them, you might be able to search their bodies for some medicinal ingredients. You might even obtain the Purple Star Grass needed to detoxify me. Because I've been injured for too long, a large quantity of herbs might be required. Young man, go and collect them! If I manage to cheat death this time, I will give you a generous reward!"

System Prompt: Accept the request of Royal Apothecary Master Trant to gather 100 stalks of Purple Star Grass. These herbs may have been collected by a nearby type of monster.

I hadn't expected this little old man to actually be a royal apothecary. Judging from his clothes, which were practically reduced to strips of cloth yet still featured some exquisite embroidery, this made sense. Ordinary commoners couldn't possibly wear such luxurious garments. As for the generous reward he mentioned, it certainly wouldn't be anything shabby.

Wonderful! I was about to strike it big again!

Checking my inventory, all the equipment had already been given to Xinyu. Now I only had a Town Portal Scroll and a few bundles of potions left, which should be enough to hold the herbs even if they couldn't be stacked.

Walking around the vicinity, I found a monster that was likely my quest target—

Evil Weed: A level 48 monster. It wasn't very big, with several soft tentacles crawling on the ground and a garlic-like bulb perched on top of its head.

"This thing shouldn't have any powerful moves, right~!"

I thought to myself, then raised my sword and hacked down.

"Slash~!"

The Dark Sword sank into the creature as if cutting through cotton. The Evil Weed retreated softly for a few steps, and a bright red number popped up above its head: "924!"

Splendid! It seemed this soft, spongy herb possessed quite low defense. With just a single strike, I wiped out nearly a thousand HP from it. Following up immediately with a Combo, this level 48 monster didn't even have a chance to counterattack before it dropped a few items and perished.

Combat Log: You killed an Evil Weed and gained 24,000 EXP!

Whoa, seriously?!

I was both pleasantly surprised and thrilled. A single monster granted over twenty thousand EXP! That was something I had never experienced before!

I checked the items left behind on the ground. There were three kinds of herbs: Apple Mint, Ox-tail Flower, and Purple Star Grass!

I got one Purple Star Grass, and the other two herbs would probably come in handy as well. I tossed them into my inventory first; it looked like they could be stacked.

Aside from herbs, the Evil Weed also dropped 54 silver coins. For a level 48 monster, that could be considered rather stingy.

After cleaning up, I began searching for my next target. The open expanse was located halfway up the mountain, and the monsters in front of me were mostly these Evil Weeds, along with some Forest Beetles flying back and forth outside the woods. However, I had no intention of dealing with the beetles; after all, killing the weeds came with quest rewards and herbs.

The Evil Weeds weren't scarce—I could see one every few steps—though they weren't extremely dense either.

Dashing forward swiftly, a Combo followed by a Heavy Strike beat an Evil Weed down to zero health, though this time it miraculously didn't die instantly!

"Boom~!"

A blazing red fireball exploded right against my chest!

I finally witnessed the attack method of the Evil Weed: it turned out to be fire-magic!

Fortunately, this attack wasn't terribly fierce, or at least it was something I could endure. With my current pool of 3,720 HP, 80 points of damage was truly negligible. Besides, each Evil Weed only ever had the chance to attack me once or twice at most anyway.

Raising my sword with a swift motion, I finished off the nearly dead Evil Weed. This time, it only dropped two kinds of herbs and didn't yield the Purple Star Grass I needed.

Onward and upward~!

An hour passed quickly. My inventory already held over 300 herbs. Rough calculation showed I had killed around 200 Evil Weeds, and my EXP had increased by over 6 million. The EXP bar for level 44 had reached 80%. Growing at this rate, I should be able to advance to level 45 within 12 hours.

Out of the 300-plus herbs, only 14 were Purple Star Grass, while the rest consisted of a dozen other varieties of unknown utility. I kept them anyway; each slot in my inventory could stack up to 99 herbs, and I currently had over 180 empty slots left, so I didn't need to worry at all. What left me speechless, though, was that an hour's worth of farming only dropped a pair of level 38 Green-grade Mage Boots. It seemed that farming gear here was basically out of the question.

Let's keep going. The entire open area was filled with these Evil Weeds, and there was no way I could kill them all by myself. That was fine, too—both the EXP and the herbs were quite bountiful. I could easily imagine that in a few weeks, this place would definitely become a contested leveling ground for numerous players, and scenes of guilds clearing out and monopolizing maps would surely appear. Just thinking about it made my scalp tingle.

"Beep~!"

Just as I was feeling full of ambition, Murong Shanshan sent me a text message: "Lin Fan, our entire party got wiped!"