037 Shadow Priest!

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“Duàn Chénfēng hasn’t appeared on the main map recently, just holed up leveling in the China zone. Why is he suddenly helping Outliers again? And he actually managed to quickly kill both of Arthur’s clones.” Shadow Priest Yalé found this very strange. They had already completed three tasks and were only missing the Blood Dragon’s Orichalcum Axe and Chénfēng’s Blood Magic Ring. They had originally expected Arthur to drop Outliers’ Divine Light Shield, but unexpectedly, Duàn Chénfēng appeared out of nowhere.

“This must be Outliers’ plan. That guy is notoriously sly and powerful by class alone. With his intellect, it’s not impossible for him to get the Magic Ring back. Arthur was a bit careless this time, so it’s normal he got caught off guard,” said the Arcane Mage. He believed this was Outliers’ doing; in their data, Chénfēng was cautious but not as cunning or treacherous as Outliers. A plan like this had to have come from Outliers.

In fact, the plan was indeed conceived by Outliers but slightly modified by Chénfēng’s suggestions. Especially the point about teleporting from the main city—that was Chénfēng’s special request. He was familiar with the Cobra Organization’s way of operating; nothing could be left to chance. Given his and Stan’s relationship with Outliers, they would surely have watchers.

Arthur, who had been banging his head against the wall, turned around grimly. “This game is getting more interesting. Outliers and Duàn Chénfēng are both mine. As soon as they leave the safe zone, I’ll make sure they die and recover the Storm Hammer fragments.”

“Outliers was killed by you once, so I bet he’ll be more careful when venturing onto the main map. As for Duàn Chénfēng, his other clone seems to have halved attributes and hasn’t been sent onto the main map yet. This guy is very cautious, usually scouting with his clone first. Only when it’s safe does he send out his warrior character,” Yalé, who was closely monitoring Chénfēng’s every move, explained. Originally, her target was Outliers, but since the Blood Dragon hadn’t appeared for a long time, the impatient Arthur swapped targets to hunt Outliers instead. Because the Blood Dragon hadn’t appeared and there was little information, Yalé switched her focus to dealing with Chénfēng.

As the team leader, Arcane Mage Yáhún summarized, “Our remaining targets are the Blood Dragon, Duàn Chénfēng, and Outliers. I once speculated whether the Blood Dragon might be Duàn Chénfēng, but the organization ran tests. Both Chénfēng and the Blood Dragon were online simultaneously, and their attack styles differ slightly. The organization believes there’s a 75% chance they are not the same person. So, our next targets are three individuals, each with distinct styles. This time, things are different. The game’s difficulty and our targets’ strength are extremely high—we must give it our all.”

“Guilds and teams on forums worldwide are gunning for the Blood Dragon. Given his personality, he won’t appear at the peak of enemy rage, but he will show up eventually. If anyone encounters the Blood Dragon, strike immediately—no need to check whose mission it is,” Yáhún paused, then continued, “Duàn Chénfēng is extremely cautious. He must know he’s being watched, so he doesn’t dare go onto the main map. Plus, with his clone’s reduced attributes, he’s even more careful. This guy is very cautious—some might say he’s afraid to die—but only a player who’s both cautious and capable of powerful bursts can survive on the main map and hold the advantage everywhere. Even Outliers is no match for him. For now, ignore Duàn Chénfēng. Since he’s not appearing on the main map, let’s focus all our efforts on Outliers and reclaim the Divine Light Shield and Arthur’s fragments.”

“Duàn Chénfēng and Outliers are at the tavern in the 23rd Zone stronghold. I’ll go test the waters and see if I can lure them out,” Shadow Priest Yalé said and logged in.

The 23rd Zone stronghold sat atop a mountain. The main city was vast, surrounded by anti-magic barriers. This stronghold was easy to defend but hard to attack. The Horde had sent large armies multiple times but failed to capture it and had to abandon it temporarily, setting up nearby strongholds instead. The 23rd Zone stronghold attracted the most players and had several taverns.

“That guy thinks he’s tough. Anyone who dares fight me, Outliers, ends up dead and offline. Cheers!” Outliers raised his wooden beer mug amid the tavern’s clamor.

Chénfēng downed a beer, set the mug down, then poured himself another. “Shorty, their target is your orange shield. They’ll probably keep coming after you.”

“They managed to kill me sneakily once—proud of that, huh? They dare come back after I turned the tables on them?” Outliers was fearless. “I asked the assassination group; they’re not involved. Whoever dares to hunt my gear isn’t too strong. At most, they’ll just have one boss out.”

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The assassination group was the Night Rain Assassins’ in-game enterprise. They ran both real-world and in-game assassin operations, maximizing the value of their killers. Retired assassins could transition into the game. Their benefits were the best among all assassin groups. They were the largest assassin organization in the game. Chénfēng had dealt with them before and knew someone had hired them to go after him, but he wasn’t afraid—they hadn’t yet made him feel truly threatened. The real danger was the Cobra Assassin Organization, whose spiritual entities included the enhanced shaman, who was not particularly strong.

At that moment, a human priest carrying a beer mug approached. The female human player wasn’t beautiful but average-looking. Judging by her black robe, she specialized in shadow talents. Shadow priests who played well were terrifying. Chénfēng recognized her as one of Cobra’s spiritual entities, nicknamed Yalé.

“Mind if I join you?” the shadow priest asked fluently in English and then sat down.

Outliers appraised her, sensing a capable player. Not a beauty, but respectable. “What’s your name, priest?”

“Call me Beach,” she said, sipping her beer as if it were hot tea, taking small, slow sips.

Outliers had no idea this shadow priest was part of the Crazy Virus faction. Chénfēng didn’t want to seem suspicious and smiled, “Hey girl, I’m Duàn Chénfēng. This short guy is Outliers, and that’s Yin over there. What brings you here? Not just to chat, I suppose?”

Very cautious! The shadow priest knew Chénfēng was careful, so a sudden approach must have a purpose. She smiled, “Looking for a team. Usually, if there aren’t five people at a tavern, it’s to find a party, right?”

“Haha, Beach, you’re looking for the wrong team!” Outliers showed off the Life Magic Ring on his finger. “Two of us are ring bearers. Our team does big things—not just leveling or running dungeons.”

Chénfēng shrugged, “I’ve been researching a piece of crafted equipment lately, no time for leveling or quests.”

“What kind of crafted equipment? I’m into that too!” Beach was an all-around player with knowledge in many areas. Hearing Chénfēng mention crafted gear, she didn’t rush to whisk them away but engaged with interest.

Crafted equipment wasn’t entirely secret. Chénfēng’s Rune Sword was rare, and its materials hard to find. Sharing that wasn’t a problem. He took out the blueprints for the Rune Sword, curious about her input.

Beach carefully examined the blueprints. After a long moment, she said, “This Rune Sword is a special, exquisite piece with decent attributes. Your materials mainly consist of runic components. You chose blood, frost, and evil materials to match the sword, which is good. Personally, I think your materials don’t mesh well. If you insist on crafting with incomplete materials, your success rate won’t exceed 5%. If you find an epic weapon as a medium, it could raise to 8%.”

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Hearing this, Chénfēng was surprised. He hadn’t expected her to be so skilled, able to roughly deduce that just by the material names—something only Stan had calculated before.

“The difficulty of this weapon crafting is high: three types of materials plus a weapon medium. Usually, crafted gear uses two types of materials, which can be combined in normal, inverse, or opposite patterns. Three types are harder to match in slots. I don’t have much research on that, so I can’t advise much,” the shadow priest pondered before adding, “If you’re not afraid of failure, you might try using just one or two material types. No need to combine three. That way, your success rate could hit 40%, though whether it yields a perfect item is uncertain.”

Chénfēng shook his head. “If I’m crafting gear, it has to be the best. There’s no point if it turns out average or trash.”

“Looks like your gear must be top-notch, like Silver Flash or Gold-tier. You probably wouldn’t settle for less,” the shadow priest said with some admiration. She herself didn’t have epic gear, let alone legendary, and here Chénfēng dismissed anything mediocre. His goal was clearly epic or above.

“No way. Look at me—I’m wearing Silver Flash and exquisite gear. Only this short guy has money; his lowest is Silver Flash,” Chénfēng said. His focus was mainly on weapons; other gear mattered less. Even with the Brotherhood Sword, Storm Sword, and Orichalcum Axe, he was still researching weapons and had no plans to work on defensive gear. He even had an epic refinement stone in storage but didn’t intend to craft an epic chestplate. This showed how strongly Chénfēng pursued weapons.

As a Berserker, Chénfēng understood how crucial weapons were. Defensive gear could wait until max level, but weapons needed to be powerful at every phase.

“You two keep talking. I just thought of a plan and want to try it out!” Chénfēng wanted the shadow priest to know that his full attention was on crafting gear so she wouldn’t probe too much or try to lure him out. Once he perfected his gear, he’d be forced onto the main map because he was a ring bearer.

Chénfēng logged off and returned to the Alliance main city, hurriedly fetching materials from the warehouse. Following the shadow priest’s advice, he had an idea he wanted to test to see if it would succeed.