Chapter 688 – The Birth of the Steel Blade Mount
We heard the whinny of the battle horse. This Steel Blade Beast was finally tamed. It turned into a white light and flew into Li Mu’s Pet Mount Space. With a giddy expression he shouted, “A Saint Tier Mount. Who knows what level it can reach. Ha haha, I finally can switch to a high tier mount!”
As I parried the attacks from a few Steel Blade Beasts, I said, “Cut the small talk, tell us its stats!”
Li Mu nodded. In the next moment, he began to summon it. A red magic circle lit up the ground and a Steel Blade Beast appeared. It was very handsome and had a smooth coat that was covered with a thick natural armor. Smoke trailed from its nostrils. There was already a saddle and reins hanging on its body. Li Mu leapt onto the horse and immediately listed the stats on the team chat——
[Steel Blade Beast] (Saint Tier Mount)
Strength: +155
Stamina: +150
Agility: +144
Mana: +140
Attack Power Increase: +50%
Defense Power Increase: +60%
Movement Speed Increase: +190%
Max Health Increase: +4000
Special: [Steel Blade], Greatly increases the owner’s defense power
Special: [Flame], deals burn damage to targeted enemies
Mount Durability: +50%
Mount Stamina: 200
Stamina Recovery Rate: 0.5/minute
Required Level: 115
Wan Er was stunned. She gasped and said, “This… the Steel Blade Beast’s stats are much stronger than the Fiery Greed Wolves… even the movement speed is better…”
I smiled, “That’s natural. The Fiery Greed Wolves are Level 105 Emperor Ter mounts. These Steel Blade Beasts are Level 115 Saint Tier Mounts. They’re two tiers higher. But, the best part about their stats isn’t the movement speed or attack power increase, but rather the [Steel blade] and the [Flame]. It increases the user’s defense power, which would come into use, especially against a thousand man army. [Flame], wasn’t too different from my [Halberd Flame], but it lasts longer. I don’t know what its damage is like, but it shouldn’t be too bad. He he… let’s kill some more monsters then!”
Li Mu swung his blade and fought with two Steel Blade Beasts. It seems that after he got his high tier mount, everything about him seemed to have risen quite a bit.
Wolf smiled, “Brother Xiao Yao, this is a chance for [Zhan Long]!”
I nodded and sternly said, “Order everyone to shut down all information about the Blade Steel Mountain. I want this to become our ace for when [Zhan Long] battles outside of the city. All Steel Blade Beasts from this mountain must be [Zhan Long]’s. From now on, we’ll create an army with at least a thousand cavalrymen. At least within the next two or three months, there won’t be a single guild in Tian Ling City that will underestimate the strength of [Zhan Long]’s cavalry!”
Once Wang Jian heard this, he also started to get giddy. Blood rushed to his face as he said, “I was thinking the same. I just don’t know what the chances of getting horse here are. Looks like, it isn’t very high. At least in this pack, there’s only one out of fifty…”
Li Mu smiled, “That’s fine. There can’t be too few. Look at how big this map is. Even though the Steel Blade Mountain is small compared to Magma Falls Mountain Range, it’s still pretty big. We’ve only looked at 1% of this map.”
I continued to kill. At the same time, I began sending out commands. I took this thousand man team and began to split it up into ten one hundred man teams and had each go up the mountain to killing monsters and looking for new targets.
“That’s right, if a player already has a mount, how do they tame the mount and put it in their bag?” I asked.
Wan Er said, “Normally, in order to get a mount you have to tame it first. Or, you get a Mount pet from a BOSS drop. But there’s another method, and that is to trade for one. In Tian Ling City, the NPCs there are trade mount crystals. These crystals allow you to get the tamed mount without binding it to yourself. Its very easy. However, those Mount Crystals are a bit expensive. They’re around 500G and up. Players can buy it too. Or you can get it as a drop from the crystal valley. But the drop rate is very low.”
I nodded, “Fox!”
Fox was in the middle of a killing spree when he turned around with a smile, “What’s up?”
I gave short order, “Find a few people you trust and go to Tian Ling City to buy some Mount Crystals. After that, tell them to send it right up to Steel Blade Mountain. Make sure you keep it a secret. As for the amount… buy 1000. Use the money right out of the Dragon’s Den treasury.”
“Ok!”
Not long after, we killed all fifty of the Steel Blade Beasts. I then took a hundred man team and continued to push forward. Wan Er, Dong Cheng and Qing Qian were all in my team. We were considered the main team. As we continued to move forward, we met more and more Steel Blade Beasts that were eating the wild plants. This just proved that my judgement was correct. Not far from us, there appeared another Level 1 Steel Blade Horse hidden in a herd of Steel Blade Beasts. I immediately lured it over and then let a Swordsman in the team successfully seal it. Just east of us, Wang Jian’s team also sealed another one. Wang Jian had already jumped onto his horse.
The appearance rate of the Steel Blade Horse was around 2%. There was one in every fifty horses. Plus, this Steel Blade Mountain was incredibly majestic and was quite big. Based on the current rate, then it would be no problem getting 1000-2000 mounts for our [Zhan Long] cavalry. Plus these Steel Blade Horses were Level 115 Saint Tier Mounts, their battle potential was far better than the Fiery Greed Wolves. This meant that we had succeeded in creating a powerful cavalry. At least, [Thousand Mound] would not be a threat to [Zhan Long]’s power.
“Ka ka ka…..”
A dagger flashed passed, and drew blood. Once Wan Er killed a Steel Blade Beast, she smiled at me, “Yao Yan has switched over to a Steel Blade Horse to. The stats really are high… This time we did not make a mistake in coming to the Magma Falls Mountains. Even if some of our players were killed by Swift Thunder and they lost a level, this was a good exchange.”
I wiped away some of the blood traces on my sword and smiled back, “Swift Thunder probably didn’t think that there was this Steel Blade Mountain behind the Magma Falls Mountain Range. Nor did he think that the Steel Blade Mountain would actually have such a strong Mount. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left even if he was killed. Even if he had to get all 30,000 of [House of Prestige]’s main troops, he would never have given up.”
Wan Er smiled, “If it’s like that, Matcha actually held up [House of Prestige]’s main forces for us. She was actually a huge help to us. If our plan to create a Steel Blade Cavalry succeeds, then Matcha actually gave a huge contribution. How do you plan on rewarding this legendary strategist?”
“I’ll treat her to a meal….”
“Just that? So cheap….”
I rubbed my nose and smiled, “Nevermind, I’ll just send 5 million more to [Zhan Long] Office, and let Matcha, Wolf, Old K, and Fox split it up. They started [Zhan Long] with me. To be honest, without them, [Zhan Long] would never have reached this point. And besides, after we got [Dragon’s Den], I never really gave them a reward. Wolf, Old K and Fox all came from common families and they’re all acceptable young adults and yet they don’t even have their own houses. They’ve been too invested in games. Whenever they get a little bit of money, they spend it on equipment. Even if they can be crazy about games for a few years, they can’t spend their whole lives on it. Later on, equipment will definitely devalue harshly. I need to help them think about the future. What do you think?”
Wan Er’s lips twitched into a smile, “I agree. See you’re starting to really look like a guildmaster. Don’t mistreat the brothers that helped you along the way!”
I nodded, “Yup, exactly!”
……
Once I had my mind set, I immediately took out the funds. I took out 2.5 million from the Dragon’s Den and National Beauty. Afterwards, I sent them directly to Wolf, Matcha and the other’s accounts. Each one got 1.25 Million. At that moment, all four of them had a stupefied look on their faces.Wolf pulled out a dagger and looked at me, “Brother Xiao Yao, what are you doing?”
I pmed him, “It’s not just you. The three others in [Zhan Long] office also got it. This is just a reward for [Zhan Long]’s founders!”
“Yup. Thank you Brother Xiao Yao. It’s so much, from now on, when we buy pancakes, we can ask for ten eggs!”
“Sigh….”
Afterwards, I pmed Matcha, Old K and Fox and told them to not to make a big deal out of it.
We continued killing monsters. At the same time, I hardened my resolve. As National Beauty and Dragon’s Den develop and grow, [Zhan Long]’s funds would grow along with it. Li Mu, Wang Jian, Qing Qian, Wei Liang, and Dancing Forest were the main players who helped make it grow. Besides I’ve got to give them a salary too. When we’ve accumulated enough money, every important officer will get a real salary. On top of that, all of [Zhan Long]’s members will get some kind of reward dependent on their contributions. That way, people would be more motivated in battles. And, people won’t be disheartened. Besides, we need to stick together for better or worse. I was never planning on getting rich from games anyway. I myself never cared much about money. In life, it is always best to live carefree and easy*.
TL note: A play on his ign, Xiao Yao Zi Zai, which means to live carefree
……
In the coming hours, we received news from Tian Ling City. Matcha had already broke down the 5000 man force and their 3000 man reinforcements. When Bai Li Ruo Feng brought 10,000 troops to “kill the bandits”, Matcha had already broken down the divisions and had everyone go to different places to grind levels. [House of Prestige]’s ten thousand troops came to an empty battlefield. Even if Bai Li Ruo Feng was pissed off, he wouldn’t go after a small team. That was something that [Thousand Burial] would do. Bai Li Ruo Feng on the other hand was a prideful person and he would not lay a hand on a weaker enemy. If he were to fight, it’d be on a big scale team battle. And so he could only resentfully return.
We received another piece of shocking news. Apparently, [Thousand Burial]’s Greedwolf Brigade had actually actively attacked [Vanguard]’s players just west of Tian Ling City. Don’t Be Foolish lead 2000 of [Vanguard]’s players to an S tier map but was ambushed by 1500 Greewolf Raiders. Not Ordinary and You Yi were personally leading the team. They lost 200+ people but managed to bathe Don’t be Foolish’s two thousand man team in blood. This was the first time they demonstrated the explosive power of the Greedwolf Brigade on a public map in Tian Ling City.!
On top of that, the most shocking part was that this battle only lasted 30 minutes. Don’t Be Foolish was leading the elites of [Vanguard]’s main guild and yet he had still been beaten to such a level!
……
It wasn’t much of a leap to say that Jian Feng Han and Simple were probably furious. They had always been watching. Even if the Greedywolf Brigade was PKing [Zhan Long], they didn’t say anything In the end, Jian Feng Han could never dream that Not Ordinary would have the guts to act against [Vanguard]. Nor did he expect it to be such a big move!