Chapter 247: Fire Chocobos
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Territories, indeed, gave much convenience to the players, especially their proprietors.
If they had to travel by foot and rented flying Gryphons, the journey would take 3 hours! During that 3 hours of riding the Gryphon, players wouldn’t be able to perform any actions, other than to chat with each other. If players below level 60 intended to set off to their appropriately leveled maps from Thunderstorm Castle, they could easily force their way through the slightly over-leveled monsters if they worked in parties. It would only take them about 40 minutes to reach their own maps, saving a lot of time!
Therefore, a large number of players had linked their teleportation scroll to Thunderstorm Castle, and the fare of one gold piece could easily be earned back within an hour. It was both money and time-saving!
Three days had passed, Zhang Yang took a good look at the financial income of the territory. He could not help himself but to rub his eyes in amazement!
10,680,000 gold pieces!
Although he had anticipated some ridiculous amount, this far exceeded his expectations! Netting an average of 3,000,000 gold pieces on a daily basis, it quickly covered the cost of the [Power Source Crystal] in 3 days, with the remaining 4 days being nothing else but profit!
Furthermore, only 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 players were in the leveling bracket of 50 and up. What would happen when that number increases by tenfold?
However, since the first territory has appeared, more territories would be bound to follow in the near future! Whatever Zhang Yang planned to do, was to master the basics of setting a perfect territory, and perhaps add in the equipment repairing blacksmith to add to the appeal of his castle. Mechandize selling NPCs were not as heavily prioritized. Surely some players would have come up with the idea of selling such supplies in the Territory themselves.
The benefits were humongous, but Zhang Yang could not possibly keep it all to himself. He immediately gave an enormous raise to the salaries of the members in the management level of the guild, and every core player, so much so that even their very gait as they walked about had a noticeable spring to it! The career of a professional player was much scorned by the other members of society, and they would often live by a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis, however, the players of the Lone Desert Smoke can now righteously proclaim that, “I am a professional player!”
Core players were earning up to 50,000 a month, on part with the income of executive white collars, so these players could carry themselves with the same amount of dignity, right?
At his command, Hundred Shots had led some members of the guild over to claim the Sacred Palace of Frozen Fractal as their own. There, he allowed players who possessed the Herb Picking profession to pick up some [Frozen Ice Weeding] once every two hours. However, there was no sign of the recipe for [Beginner Mobility Potion] dropping, so the [Frozen Ice Weeding] were stored in the warehouse at the moment, eating up its storage space!
As the territory now had an owner, NPCs who provided territory quests started appearing. However, the territory quests required players to be above level 60. Currently, only Zhang Yang alone qualified for the quests.
The forth day after owning the territory, Zhang Yang accepted a few territory quests, summoned his Whitey and sped away.
The territory quests were simple, it just involved killing a few bears, slaying a few wolves, clearing out some undeads, all to provide safety for the territory. The three quests that Zhang Yang took required the killing of 100 Red Flaming Tigers, 100 Bloody Scarlet Wolves, and 100 Flatland Chocobos.
He quickly completed the quests to kill the tigers and to kill the wolves. At the moment, he was on his way to the Northwest part of the forest in search of the Flatland Chocobos.
“Gu—gu—gu—!” a strange, birdlike sound was uttered, and a bird that dwarfed even the ostrich appeared right in front of Zhang Yang. Its whole body was covered with colourful feathers, beneath it was a pair of thick legs that each ended in three razor-sharp claws. It had a wings, but appeared to be incapable of flight, along with two strangely large eyes that occupied two thirds of the surface area of its entire head.
[Forest of Tanila, Chocobo] (Normal, Beast)
Level: 63
HP: 6,300
Defense: 60
Zhang Yang rode up to it on his Whitey, and effortless dispatched the Chocobo. It dropped some feathers that were worth a few pieces of copper coins which he completely ignored.
Slaying them was no problem, but these birds were rather hard to come across, and Zhang Yang took more than one hour just to come across one of them. After slaying 90 of them, they appeared to have vanished altogether. No matter how hard he tried to find the remaining Chocobos, the numbers just could not be scraped to completion. He decided to venture on into the deeper part of the forest.
93… 96… 98, 99, only one left!
Hoof!
A shadow blurred with the myriad of five colors suddenly entered the edge of his vision, and Zhang Yang reacted almost instantly, instinctively activating {Block} and placing his shield before him.
{Block}!
A particularly large Chocobo collided right into Zhang Yang, the feathers of which had an iridescent quality, magnificently sparkling in the light! It was gorgeous!
[King of Fire Chocobo] (Gray-Silver, Beast)
Level: 65
HP: 1,000,000
Defense: 700
Zhang Yang smiled lightly, and with a tap on Whitey, he answered with a charge of his own.
With his current equipment, even a Gray-Silver boss that relied on physical attacks such as this was a pushover for him! And if it is a boss that had magical attacks, he would simply swap places with his mount, juggling the aggro between them, while using {Shadow of the Void} to disengage from battle while his mount occupied the enemy. He would still be able to single-handedly take such a boss down, only having to put in a little more effort!
Bosses that relied on physical attacks would be a total piece of cake!
In less than 6 to 7 minutes, this Gray-Silver boss crumpled to the ground in a beautiful heap, dropping a few pieces of Gray-Silver and Green-Copper equipment.
Zhang Yang leisurely grabbed the loots and placed them in his backpack. That boss was a good omen, as his counter now read that he has killed 100 Chocobo in total! He can finally head back! Just as he was taking out a teleportation scroll, Zhang Yang caught sight of something that laid at the trunk of a large tree. He uttered an ‘eh’ in surprise, quickly stepping out of the small circle that was beginning to form under his feet.
Just beneath the big tree facing him was a huge bird nest. The miniature head of a Chocobo had stuck it’s head out to look around, its little wings flapping, as it weakly cried out, ‘Gu— gu— gu—’. The whole body of the Chocobo was covered in fluffy, short feathers which were milky yellow in colour, a far cry from its adult brethren who were dazzlingly beautiful!
[Fire Chocobo Chick] (Rare Gray-Silver Battle Mount)
Level: 0
HP: 50
A [Battle Mount]! And it was a Gray-Silver grade!
It was no wonder why the King of Fire Chocobo initiated an attack on him, he was trespassing upon its nest!
Zhang Yang quickly activated his voice communication device and said, “Little girl, quickly! Call me brother!”
“Stupid noob tank, are you trying to take advantage of me, you are still 1,000 years too far from that!” Wei Yan Er snapped back.
Zhang Yang chuckled and replied, “I just came across a [Battle Mount]! Oh, did I forget to mention that it’s Gray-Silver?”
“Wow, where? Where is it?” her tone quickly changed, and she anxiously pressed him for answers.
“Call me brother!”
“Heck, I’ll call you brother-in-law!” Wei Yan Er was talking sweetly.
Han Ying Xue was definitely charming, but it was the type of deadly charm that only a siren would produce. A shiver ran down his spine and he quickly said, “No thank you, I cannot afford to have her, you can save that name for someone else! I’ll activate the [Lover’s Charm: Yang], use the [Lover’s Charm: Yin] to get over here now!”
“Aww, sister Sun snatched it back from me! She’s so stingy, she’s not letting up at all!” Wei Yan Er pouted.
“Fine, fine, stop grumbling already. Drop whatever you’re doing, I’m adding you to party. Better hurry, or I’ll catch it myself!”
“Don’t! Stupid noob tank! Wait for me! If you ever dare catch my baby, I’ll bite you to death!” Wei Yan Er was yelling at the top of her lungs while summoning her mount, swiftly traveling to his location.
Currently, Zhang Yang was the only player in the party who possessed a [Battle Mount], while Han Ying Xue and the others were still waiting bitterly for their turns, but if he was to offer anyone else a pet mount… she would probably burn holes through him with her eyes until he turned into ash!
Every single member of the party would definitely concede to the wiles of that brat. After all, this little girl knew her way around the minds of her elders, enjoying the attention and pampering that they showered upon her.
As he was bored, Zhang Yang sat his ass on the ground and turned Whitey into his backrest while waiting for the arrival of Wei Yan Er. At the same time, he kept an eye on the little Chocobo just in case it slipped away. After all, this is a game, who knew if the little bird would wander off on its own, having lost its parent.
“Boss, there really is a [Mount] here, but there’s a bloody Gray-Silver boss guarding it. Ah Xi and myself were killed the moment it spotted us!”
“Oh I see it now, there really is a [mount] right there, a Gray-Silver one!”
“Boss, if you can subdue a Gray-Silver [Mount], surely your strength will increase by a notch. When that happens, whoever it is, Zhan Yu, One Sword Stroke, or Frost Night, they all will be beneath the dust before you, boss!”
“That’s right, the official site did mention it, the attack power of a Gray-Silver [Mount] is equivalent to the attack of a player equipped with a full set of Gray-Silver equipment! When a player is combined with his mount, he’ll gain huge boosts to his attack and HP!”
Five players stumbled out of a thick shrub together, one of them being Floating Fire Ball himself, who had been slaughtered several times by Zhang Yang in previous engagements!
When the five players saw Zhang Yang, they were shocked, for they never would thought that they would actually see someone in such a place! The weirdest part of it was that, this player was not even attempting to subdue the Battle mount!
“Hey kid! Get lost, this location is now booked by us, Pride!” one of the players with the name ‘Prideful Siye’ above his head took a step forward and began raising his fist while speaking to Zhang Yang.
Few had actually met Zhang Yang in person, and Prideful Siye was trying to butter up the ass of Floating Fire Ball, which was why he was making a show in front of his leader, raising his voice with his chest puffed out.
Zhang Yang smiled lightly, returning his gestures with a dismissive wave of his own, “I found this little fella first, you guys can go on ahead!”
“Hey kid, you dare to speak in such a tone? Who do you think you are? One Sword Stroke, or Frost Night, Drizzler or Zhan Yu?” Prideful Siye was unaware of his boss’ rapidly changing expression, as he continued clamoring arrogantly in front of Zhang Yang.
“Get lost already or I’ll just cut you down here and now!” Zhang Yang was beginning to lose his patience, that arrogant face was just asking for it.
As Prideful Siye was going to shout back at Zhang Yang, he was forcefully pulled back by his arm by Kindling Chest Hair. He could not comprehend the situation, but when he heard what Floating Fire Ball had to say, “Zhan Yu, today we will give the respect where it’s due, let’s leave!”
Zhan Yu? This kid is Zhan Yu?
Prideful Siye was shocked, almost gagging on the intended insults that he hastily forced back down his throat! Previously, the Lone Desert Smoke had made their name as a PvE Dungeon Clearing guild, but after the two major incidents, the Princess Serena quest and the Battle for Terra Nulius, every other guild had been left speechless by their combat strength and unity!
To insult Zhan Yu would be to insult Lone Desert Smoke itself, and nobody else seemed to be able to stand up to them at this point!
Kindling Chest Hair begrudgingly followed Floating Fire Ball back to where they came from, and finally blurted out, “Boss, are we really going to give up on this [Pet Mount]?”
It was a strong [Pet Mount] capable of greatly boosting the combat ability of a player!
Floating Fire Ball cracked an insidious grin, “Give up? Like hell! We’ve got over 20 members close by the area leveling up, let’s wait till everyone is gathered here…we’ll let him have a taste of our strength, Pride!”
