‘This man… How long has it been already?’

Katherine spent the first day of Avatar Online supervising the top players but one of them received the most attention from her. Too bad, each time she came to check on him, he was doing the same action over and over again.

Pouring water out of his Waterskin.

She was the one who designed most of the Bosses, especially the Bandit Leader which was the most important in the game, but she didn’t expect someone would use such a weird method. Grind God seemed like he wanted to drown the Bandit Leader.

‘Can he make it in time though?’ Katherine wondered as she pulled out her profile.

[Time Left: 00:59:30]

Grind God only had an hour left to kill both the Bandit Leader and all other Masked Bandits or else he would lose all the progress he made.

‘I guess I will watch over him for the last hour…’ Katherine thought as she hovered near the ceiling of the cavern.

Compared to the players, she was in a developer mode that granted her special perks like unlimited vision or invisibility. She could see everything that was happening, together with Grind God’s stats and inventory.

All his Small Mana Potions were gone yet he only filled the Cavern to their hips. She was surprised he even managed to reach that height. The physics were similar to real life, so the water would be absorbed into the group after a while.

Huh?

Just as she was busy watching his stats, Grind God moved, suddenly swimming underwater as if testing its depth. He reached out above the surface and slapped the water, creating a loud sound that alarmed the Bandit Leader.

Swoosh!

A fireball swiftly left his palm and slammed on the water surface right above Grind God’s head. With no surprises, the flames extinguished immediately as the water turned to be superior.

‘To think he spent 10 hours changing his surroundings to give himself such an advantage…’ Katherine muttered, amazed.

A Firebender had little to no chance against a Waterbender of the same level if they battled inside water. The results would be switched if their surroundings were completely dry like they were supposed to be.

She was prepared to watch the Bandit Leader’s execution when she witnessed a sudden turn of events. Katherine gazed at the entrance to the cavern and her eyebrows rose.

‘Oh no…’

———

‘Okay, this should be good enough…’ Liu Ye thought as he swam underwater. He could drown someone with a single bucket of water so his massive pool was more than enough.

Fighting directly with the Bandit Leader was a waste of time. He already tried hitting him and ended up dealing max 2 or 3 damage. It would take him an eternity to kill him knowing the Bandit Leader could use Health potions as well.

Even though his tactic wasted 10+ hours of his time, it came with additional benefits as well.

[Elemental Points: 2]

As soon as he reaches level 10, Liu Ye could unlock or upgrade two more abilities. He actually expected more but the amount of Elemental Mastery he received diminished to nearly zero. No matter how much water he poured out, he didn’t receive any more mastery from it.

“Hmm?” Liu Ye was on his way to the Bandit Leader’s location when a sudden crack alarmed him. He resurfaced silently and glanced in the direction of the sounds only to hear Marco’s voice.

“I can’t hold them off anymore!” Marco called out in panic before getting confused, “Huh? Why is there so much water in here?”

“Bastard! You dare come back in here!” the Bandit Leader cried out and immediately fired at Marco. He didn’t hesitate and dove down in the water, avoiding it easily.

Masked Bandits arrived at the worst possible moment as if the Game AI wanted to mess with him again. How come they didn’t break inside this whole time when he was preparing?

It was useless to complain so Liu Ye adjusted his plan.

“Marco! Quick, split the cavern in half! We will deal with the Bandit Leader later!” Liu Ye ordered swiftly as he ran through the water. “Lock him up for me!”

“Fuck you!” The Bandit Leader cursed as two whips burst from his palms and he swung at Liu Ye. Too bad, he was now in Liu Ye’s water kingdom.

Pa!

Liu Ye slapped the whip away with his own before instantly creating three more, pushing him back. This time he didn’t have any delay, allowing him to cast abilities one by one without break.

“I am out of potions!” Marco reported urgently. “I used all I had to hold them off.”

“Here!” Liu Ye pulled out a Medium Potion and tossed it behind him. Too bad, just this was enough to give the Bandit Leader an opportunity to strike.

Ah!

-60!

[Ding! Fire Whip applied burn. You will lose 10 HP every second for the next three seconds.]

The Fire Whip knocked him back into the water, causing the burn to extinguish even before Liu Ye suffered from a single tick of damage. He only smirked and stood back up with his whips returning to the field.

Although Liu Ye didn’t deal any damage, it was enough to push the Bandit Leader back.

“Alright! I am back to business!” Marco announced just in time and began setting up walls one by one. He locked both sides and only left a small gap in the middle that they used to battle.

“See you later! I promise we won’t take long!” Liu Ye called out playfully and Marco rose the last wall, closing the Bandit Leader completely.

“Oof, it’s so dark in here,” Marco commented just before they heard a rumble coming from the exit. “They will break inside soon!”

“Focus on the wall instead,” Liu Ye ordered as he walked forward. “Don’t let the Bandit Leader out. I will handle the rest.”

“Are you sure?” Marco questioned in doubt but Liu Ye only smiled under his mask. As long as he had an open water source, it was simply a child’s play.

Liu Ye raised his arms and bubbles of water floating in the air. They hardened and formed into small ice shards, ready to shoot out at the nothing expecting enemies.

Thud!

A dull sound resounded in the cavern and pieces of the blocked entrance began falling down in the water. They finally saw a faint light coming from the other side and the whole wall collapsed.

‘Now!’ Liu Ye cried out in his mind as 50 Ice Projectiles shot out in a single wave.

-19

-19

-19

Argh!!

[Ding! You killed the Masked Bandit. You received 200 Experience and 5 silver.]

[Ding! You killed the Masked Bandit. You received 200 Experience and 5 silver.]

[Ding! You killed the Masked Bandit. You received 200 Experience and 5 silver.]

Three Masked Bandits cried out as they died instantly but Liu Ye showed no mercy, gulping a Mana Potion as he prepared another wave.

When the dead bodies fell down, he began managing his Mana by aiming but he still emptied his mana after five more corpses. How powerful would he be with an endless amount of Mana at his disposal?

At that point, the Masked Bandits realized the dangers.

“Watch out!”

Two Berserkers jumped in the water and spawned an Ice Wall each, defending against the assault. It helped them safely spill out into the cavern while arranging a defensive formation, but when they peeked to find Liu Ye, he was already gone.

Even with the sunlight, it was still too dark to see anything other than a few feet away from them. They definitely didn’t see the danger lurking in the dark waters.

Ah!

One of the Berserkers suddenly screamed and his body sank inside the water, leaving only the distancing sounds of bubbles and struggle.

“Help! It’s pulling my—”

He wasn’t able to finish as Liu Ye covered his mouth and started punching the life out of him. Even though only the top of his head was visible, the damage of his Water Boxing still applied, melting him down to 0.

[Ding! You killed the Berserker. You received 500 Experience and 50 silver.]

“He is hiding in the water! Stay close to each other!” the other Berserker ordered it was futile. One by one, everyone got sucked underwater with no way to retaliate.

How could they defend themselves from water while being inside the water?

After clearing the mall, Liu Ye’s mind rang with notifications as he finally reached the first milestone. He knew he definitely leveled up with so much experience but when he opened his profile, he was stunned.

[Time left: 00:05:30]

“Fuck!” Liu Ye cursed at a single look on the clock and swiftly closed the window as he rushed to Marco. “Quick! Open the wall!”

“Oof, don’t you want to rest first?” Marco questioned confused but Liu Ye only repeated urgently.

“No time! Let’s go!”

Liu Ye didn’t have time to explain. Just as Marco opened the wall, he launched himself forward like a maniac.

“So you came back to your deat—” The Bandit Leader said his programmed catchphrase only to be cut off mid-sentence as Liu Ye jumped in the water. He swam underwater, stopping right underneath Bandit Leader’s feet and knocked him down.

Liu Ye has never set a faster chokehold than that day.

“Come here! Help me hold him!” Liu Ye called out for help, struggling to keep the Bandit Leader underwater. Even though he had skills, his strength seemed to be lacking compared to the beefy middle-aged man.

Without Marco, this whole Quest would be impossible to finish.

Aaargh!!

The Bandit Leader screamed underwater as his head reddened and his huge HP finally showed the signs of dropping down.

-1

-1

Each second his HP ticked down from the lack of air and it increased every thirty seconds.

-5

-5

…

-10

-10

…

-25

-25

…

-50

-50

After reaching 50, it no longer increased, giving Liu Ye a scare.

‘Come on! Die already!’ Liu Ye cried out in his mind. “Open Profile!”

[Time Left: 00:00:46]

Liu Ye’s eyes moved between the timer and the Bandit Leader’s HP, calculating the difference.

It was too close!

45… 2200…

40… 1950…

20… 950…

Each second the Bandit Leader lost 50 HP but the timer only lagged behind by half a second.

10… 450…

3… 100…

2… 50…

1…

Liu Ye watched the timer hit one last second yet before he shifted his gaze on the Bandit Leader’s HP, he got blinded by a white light. Everything in his surroundings turned into pixels and Liu Ye heard one last message from the game.

“Thank you for playing Avatar Online. It’s currently 6:00 AM and the servers will close. Please have a nice day and come back at 10:00 PM for another night of adventures!”