Chapter 157 – Brutal Saddle & Waterwalk
West the Flame Ruler fled with Fatty back to the mainland in a pitiful fashion. When they approached the shore, Aliya gave up the chase and returned to the deep sea.
“Lil’ Bro, I’m so sorry.” Wearing a look of shame, West set Fatty down on the ground. A monster has his pride as well; not to mention West could be considered an NPC, now that he had broken free from the seal. As the prey of such a deadly chase, West felt like he had lost all his credibility to the ocean.
“Big Bro, don’t feel bad. I know you gave it your all,” Fatty consoled him since he could do nothing more. “After you gain a rank, we can go find Aliya again and get back at her!” The rogue’s words made West feel even guiltier.
Giving Fatty a chunk of magical red glass, the Flame Ruler explained, “This is a sound-transmitting glass. After my rank increases, I’ll use this to find you. Go take care of your other stuff first while I rank up, Lil’ Bro. Then, we’ll return to the deep sea again. At that time, more than just the basic Waterwalk Art, I can even get you an advanced Movement Art.”
“Alright, then this little bro wishes Big Bro success.” Fatty cupped his fist in salute. As he watched West disappear into the sky, the rogue was a little upset. Even though he had thought up a perfect plan, the disappointing result had been that he only gained the Firewalk Art, yet had absolutely no clue about the Waterwalk and Metalwalk books.
Fwiissh! A streak of fire blazed to a halt before Fatty; West had returned. He tossed an item at the man and said, “I snatched this since it might be useful to you.” With that, he vanished again. Fatty caught the item. In just a glance, his downtrodden mood instantly brightened. The item’s description was:
Brutal Saddle
Golden Tool
Special item: When used on an animal, forcefully converts animal to player’s mount. Simultaneously, player gains the knight ability and can attack enemies while mounted.
“The Brutal Saddle is truly brutal!” Fatty exclaimed with a gasp. Summoning Wheat, he equipped the saddle on the rodent. Wheat was currently level 33, so its body had grown large enough to be used as a mount. When equipped with the saddle, Wheat’s info consequently displayed the “mountable” tag. Fatty didn’t hold back and immediately flung himself on the rat.
Despite the rodent’s plain appearance, its capability was superb, and it made a great mount as well! Fatty gave a slew of orders from Wheat’s back, such as: forward, retreat, left, right, stop, etc. Due to Wheat’s intelligence, the animal quickly grew familiar with Fatty’s commands, and riding became even smoother.
“The player gains the knight ability and can attack enemies while mounted.” Fatty mused over the info, then shouted, “Earthwalk!” Whoosh! An earthy yellow wind whirled up and encased both Wheat and Fatty. Unable to shrink in its mount state, Wheat simply descended directly underground with Fatty.
The space around the pair was pitch black. However, when Fatty looked up, he surprisingly could see everything on the ground overhead. He glimpsed visions of grass, trees, and mountains as he gazed upward. “Not bad at all!” Fatty was extremely pleased. The Brutal Saddle was even more precious than the Violet and Gold gear from earlier.
“Huh?!” exclaimed Fatty. Just when he was about to order Wheat to return above ground, the rogue was suddenly startled. He gawked, wide-eyed and dazed. Then, slowly, Fatty tilted his head and leaned backward until he lay flat on Wheat’s back. After quite a time, Fatty sat up with complete satisfaction. “Hurrhurrhurr, so Earthwalk can be used like that, hm? Damn, Wheat! Why didn’t you bring me down here sooner?” the man grumbled.
Two female players had just passed over Fatty’s head.
Beep! The communicator trilled. Fatty ordered Wheat above ground and answered the message, “What? …Alright, I’m coming right over.” The message was from Qian Xiaoqian about an upcoming auction held in Azure Dragon City. There was a skill book up for bidding, and rumor had it that this book allowed for a hidden class enhancement.
“Guild Master Sliver, can that skill book really grant a hidden class enhancement?” asked Qian Xiaoqian. In a set of box seats in the Azure Dragon City Auction Hall, she sat among a bunch of players, including ASliverofSmoke, the guild master of Sword Manor.
“Of course. I heard this hidden class is one unique to Chinese culture and extremely powerful at that. You see! Many people from the four main cities have come just for this skill book,” ASliverofSmoke explained, pointing at the players entering the hall.
“Unique to Chinese culture? I wonder what it is?” RainbowWatcher, the guild master of Rainrevelers, was there too. Upon hearing ASliverofSmoke mention the phrase, the other guild master’s eyes had gleamed mischievously.
Once Fatty returned to Azure Dragon City, he quickly made for the Auction Hall. At that moment, over a thousand players had gathered inside the building and even more were still queuing to enter. A normal seat cost 100 gold coins while a front seat cost 1,000. A normal box cost 5,000 gold coins, and a VIP box cost 10,000. Viewing the price list, Fatty hesitated a little. He then paid 5,000 gold coins for a normal box. A guildless player like him shouldn’t stand out too much in a situation like this, or else it could be trouble; others might set their sights on him if he bought something.
Fatty quietly entered a box on the second floor. The room was of medium size with a table, chairs, and tea set ready for serving. A window faced the auction stage so that the people inside the box could see out, but those outside couldn’t see in. Next to the teapot was a bid transmitter. Unlike the people outside, box participants didn’t need to shout out their offers. They only needed to input a price in the transmitter, and the system would call out in their stead.
After more than an hour, the auction finally began. An auctioneer walked onto the stage and lightly banged his gavel. The originally noisy hall instantly lapsed into silence as the first item was presented. “This is a Gold item called ‘the Dark Feather Sword’ and crafted by Mr. Grimsteel, a Grandmaster Craftsman of Azure Dragon City,” the auctioneer announced. “A combination of Yao monster Darkfire Crow feathers and various materials were used to refine this sword. The attack range is 65-73, strength is +12, endurance +15. In addition, it has an active skill: Dark Feather Arrows. The skill shoots more than ten Darkfire Crow feathers to attack the opponent. Level requirement is 35; starting bid is 10,000 gold coins.”
“15,000 gold coins!” Someone immediately bid as soon as the auctioneer finished his introduction.
Other players offered their bids as well. Finally, the golden weapon, Dark Feather Sword, was sold at 35,000 gold coins (equivalent to 700,000 RMB). A golden weapon selling for such a high price drove many people mad. After the sword, the auctioneer introduced the second listing, leading the entire hall into another round of bidding frenzy.
“What a bunch of foolish bumpkins! A single Gold item is enough to make them go crazy!” In a certain VIP box, a player wearing a golden helmet, a golden cloak, and dressed in luxurious, expensive attire observed the frenzied players down in the hall with contempt.
“Hehe, you can’t say that, Guild Master. You have money and plenty of Violet equipment, so of course you don’t pay attention to those Gold items; but, they do. These players normally don’t get anything good from the monsters. Now that they finally get to see some good loot, how could they not fight for it?” said a female player who leaned against the other’s chest. Compared to the wealthy player, she was scantily dressed with only a thin, light cloth to cover her body, a necklace, and a pair of wristbands.
“You’re right, babe,” replied the rich male player. He softly swatted the woman’s buttocks and squinted his eyes. “This gear’s merely trivial stuff to me. But, I must get that last item: the skill book rumored to be the key to a hidden class. Anyone who dares compete with me, you guys know what to do to them, right?”
“Don’t worry, Young Master. Even if they win the bid, that skill book will still be yours in the end,” affirmed a mage in his forties sitting behind the player.
“Mhm.” The player nodded. His hands roamed outrageously across the body of his female companion. After a while, she let out a feeble moan.
Similar conversations were happening in all of the boxes. All of the rich players occasionally bid on certain superior items with decent stats, but their main focus was still the skill book, the closing item of the auction. It was no surprise players reacted so strongly since a hidden class could only be encountered when the stars aligned. The entire CN region had four to five hundred million players, but those with a hidden class were easily numbered.
The longer the auction lasted, the more serious the players’ expressions became. Finally, after more than three hours, the presentation reached its final stage. “Now, our last item, the grand finale of the auction! I believe that many friends have come here especially for this. Alright, I won’t waste too many words on it since you all are clearly so excited. Let’s take a look at the info!”
The information appeared on a big screen. Fatty’s heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly jumped forward to get a better look. Many others in box seats did the same. The info read:
Basic Elemental Movement Art – Waterwalk
Mission Item
Collecting the five elemental Movement Arts will allow the player to gain the hidden class Elementalist, unique to the Chinese culture1 .
“Now starting the bid for the Basic Elemental Movement Art: Waterwalk. Starting price: 100,000 gold coins,” boomed the auctioneer, his voice echoing throughout the hall. Fatty took a deep breath and sat back down. His eyes narrowed, and unknown thoughts ran through his mind.
“150,000 gold coins,” rang out Qian Xiaoqian’s pleasant voice, crystalline clear, from her box. Her face was calm.
“Pretty sister, aren’t you already a thunder magus? Why are you interested in the Elementalist hidden class?” RainbowWatcher asked.
“My bro doesn’t have a hidden class yet; I want to get it for him,” Qian Xiaoqian responded vaguely in a half sincere manner.
“Changing class actually requires five skill books?” The wealthy player squinted at the screen. “Uncle Liang, get this book, no matter the price. If the requirement is so strict, in addition to it being a unique Chinese class, it’ll definitely be OP after the class enhancement.”
1. While the elemental concept is not unique to Chinese culture, the combination of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth is. Check out here if you are interested. ↩
