Chapter 23 – Checking out Mass Graves again

“Y-You learned 4-4 skills!?” When Fatty decided to learn all the skills available without any hesitation, the rogue beside him was completely shocked, so much so that he was stuttering. It was clear that he was just another poor fellow who was dejected by the high fees.

“Tsk, it’s just four skills,” Fatty glanced at him and said with disdain.

What should I do now after getting my class enhancement and learning all the skills?

Fatty pondered it over for a short while, then decided to go over to Mass Graves once more.

Now that he was stronger, he immediately set his target on the bosses on the lower levels of Mass Graves. That was a location right next to Black Tortoise City made specifically for players who already received their class enhancement to farm in. Within a few days… those bosses might be killed even after a single day.

All players were as interested in the boss monsters as Fatty is, even if dying to them will cause their level to drop. However, for other players of Fatty’s level, going to kill the bosses below the fourth floor solo, was definitely a foolish way to commit suicide.

Right as he was about to move out, he caressed his stomach. Man, I’ve had so much fun in the game that I forgot to eat.

He found a random place to log off. When he took off his gaming helmet, he saw that it was already dark outside. That was his favorite time of the day, because the night made him feel safe.

Fatty pushed open the windows and took a deep breath as he looked out into the scenery of the night. For a split second, he felt a bit lost. Just what is a person’s purpose of existing for?

But, that was only for a few moments. Fatty quickly came back to his senses, then told himself in a stern voice. “Of course it’s for money.”

I’ll earn lots and lots and lots of money, then walk cockily on the streets with a rucksack. I’ll just smack whoever is looking down on me with a wad of wash. Yes, that was Fatty’s goal.

…

He stir-fried a few dishes, drank a bit of liquor, then picked up his phone and called Qian Xiaoqian.

The call rang for quite a while before it was finally answered. She must have been playing the game..

“Hehe, bro, what’s up?” Qian Xiaoqian’s giggle was heard from the other side of the call.

“Nothing much, just asking you what level you are and whether you need me to farm with you?” Fatty asked.

“No need, I’m farming with my classmates. Doing the class enhancement mission right now. Bro, did you get yours done yet?” Qian Xiaoqian asked. Oh, she isn’t slow. The players that reached level 10 are probably still in the minority right now.

“Of course, who do you think your older brother is?” Fatty chuckled, then hung up the call after asking Qian Xiaoqian for her IGN(in game name).

When he logged back on once more, he was immediately notified that he had a friend request. It was from someone called Pink Beauty, which was Qian Xiaoqian.

Fatty looked through his inventory and checked out the drops from the Knight Commander. There was a bronze rank spear, a pair of bronze rank boots, a bronze rank armor alongside a few other common items.

He tossed Appraisal on all of them. Tsk, nothing special out of all that.

Fatty went over to the bank to reorganize everything as well as dump all of the items he wasn’t using into storage. He understood very well that it was not the best time to sell items. I’ll wait until others actually get a bit of cash.

After doing so, he went to buy some more red and blue potions, then decided to begin his farming life once more. But… where should I farm?

He thought about it for a while, then finally caved in to the allure of the next boss monster, so he decided to go to Mass Graves once more.

By the time he got there, a lot of players have already teleported to the various cities. Mass Graves became a lot more populated as it was a low level farming spot close to the Black Tortoise City itself, and was also a place to complete the class enhancement missions.

The first level was already taken over by the various guilds. Everyone Fatty went, he could hear stuff like “Guild XYZ is taking over. Everyone else, get out of here, otherwise, the consequences are dire!”

The second level was also split up by a few stronger guilds. This also meant that as one of the mission monsters, the Skeletal Centurion was very troubled. He would respawn every three hours, but he would return to the embrace of his god in less than five minutes. Wait, do skeletons have gods? Whatever, who even knows.

Since the Skeletal Knight mobs on the third level were already level 20, which was a whole ten levels or so higher than the current playerbase, the level was filled with experts and also… dumbasses.

Fatty already activated his newly learned skill – Stealth before arriving at Mass Graves. Although his movement speed was impaired, it offered him a lot more safety. That was especially needed since the Cloud Dragon Gang might still be around. He wasn’t actually scared of fighting them, but he had started playing the game to earn money, and fighting them would end up causing him to miss out on a lot of it.

Thus, he slowly snuck in without attracting any attention. When he reached the third level, he saw four or five groups of players all set up their own perimeters each, and were farming inside their own little zones. He took a look at who they all were. East Gate BlowingWind, Wind God’s World, Cloud Dragon Sailing, Willowinthewinds and Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord, all of them were people he knew or knew of.

Most monsters in Eternal had high attack and high defense, and the fact that the players were able to farm in an area nearly ten levels higher than their own showed just how strong the players actually were. Yet, even so, they were still only fighting in their own small areas. Trying to take over the entire area would be just asking to be killed. Ignoring the fact that they might not even be able to do so, even if they managed to do it, they wouldn’t be able to handle several dozen level 20 monsters charging at them.

When Fatty saw that the Knight Commander had not respawned yet, he thought about it for a moment, then he sneaked through the guilds and quietly entered the fourth floor. The fourth floor’s mobs were level 25 Skeletal Archers alongside Skeletal Knights. It was your typical high attack and defense combo with both ranged and melee enemies.

Nobody had ventured down here to farm yet, since the level difference was too large, meaning that it would cost them too much to farm there. The only reason Fatty had decided to come down was only because he didn’t want to give up on the fourth floor’s boss.

He circled the fourth floor in stealth mode, then saw the boss in the distance. It was a huge skeleton in an armor with a black cape behind it. It also rode on top of a skeletal horse, while you could see two ghastly red lights from underneath its pitch black helmet.

Fatty used Appraisal, but…nothing.

He tried again, then finally saw the boss’s information in front of him.

Skeletal General

Bronze Boss

Level: ???

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

…

To no surprise, everything else except the name were question marks, much like when he fought Diggy Rat. But even so, it still proved its tremendous value over the rogue only ability Rogue’s Eye.

Fatty rubbed his chin, then squatted down to think of a plan. The main reason he had dared to come down alone to fight the boss was due to Frostfang’s active ability – Poison Fang, which pretty much ensured the boss’s death after applying the poison.

Of course, that was only for lower level bosses. The health regen per second of higher level bosses would completely nullify the skill and more.

Fatty snuck over to the boss monster. As he crept closer, he couldn’t help but curse silently at the employee who designed the monster. The armor was pretty normal looking, but for some reason the monster itself seemed to have a lecherous look on its face, and seemed to have an expression that made you want to punch it. In that aspect, the Skeletal Horse it was riding looked much better.

“Come to me, my gold coins,” Fatty blew onto the dagger, then successfully landed Coil on the monster. A huge white python materialized in the air and coiled itself around the Skeletal General. The monster’s expression seemed to change as it stared straight at Fatty, but it was unable to move.

Poison Fang.

Frostfang quickly slid his dagger across the Skeletal General’s leg. A hint of green appeared on the monster, then a red number popped up from its head.

-25

25000 HP!? Man, it really would trouble me if I tried to forcefully kill it.

Although the combination of Coil and Poison Fang successfully poisoned the boss monster, it also exposed where Fatty was. Thus, the surrounding guards immediately lifted their spears and charged towards Fatty, while the wandering Skeletal Archers all notched their arrow and shot towards him.

“Hehe,” Fatty chuckled wantonly, then pounced underneath the skeletal horse. That was something he had already gotten used to while fighting the Knight Commander on the third floor. Everything happened just as he planned. The moment he went underneath the horse, not only were the Skeletal Knights unable to reach him, the Skeletal Archers seemed to be unsure of how to attack as well. They did shoot some arrows, but all of them was blocked off by the surrounding Skeletal Knights.

Creak. Creak. The Skeletal Knights and Skeletal Archers circled around the Skeletal Knight he was under, but seemed to have failed to find a good angle to attack. Their ghastly eyes glowed with a dark light, then all of a sudden, several Skeletal Knights raised their spears, and smashed the flat end against the ground. Meanwhile, the skeletal horses also stood up on their hind legs, then smashed their hooves against the ground.

The skill activated was Tremor, a Knight skill accessible after the first class enhancement that dealt area of effect damage; and Trample, a skill only activatable when riding a mount, dealing area of effect damage and had a small chance to stun enemies.

When the hooves landed on the ground, waves of blue light spread out. Fatty’s health bar immediately dropped down to rock bottom like a roller-coaster going downhill.

“Shit!” Fatty cried out and quickly chugged down a health pot, then scrambled out of the encirclement. When he reached a far enough distance and the battle timer wore off, he immediately activated stealth and disappeared from sight.

“Oh crap, that was so close,” Fatty patted himself on the chest, while the flab on his body vibrated like seismic waves.

When Fatty disappeared, the Skeletal Knights and Skeletal Archers all wandered around in a ruckus before finally calming down once more. Only the Skeletal General continued to look forward with a grim look as it glowed with a green light.

Fatty waited patiently for a while. Then, when the greenness on the Skeletal General wore off, he immediately snuck over once more to apply the poison.

However, this time, he no longer took as much risk. He immediately begun to run after poisoning the boss, and activated stealth the moment he got out of combat. Despite that, two thirds of his health bar had still disappeared.

Although farming was a boring and tedious task, fighting a boss monster was no simple task either. Poison Fang dealt 0.1% of max health as damage per second, so technically, a thousand seconds was enough to end the fight. However, simple mobs could not compare up to the Skeletal General’s health regen as a boss monster. Every single time Fatty’s poison ended, it would have regenerated at least half of the damage he dealt.

And thus, the tedious repetition continued. Even though Fatty was at death’s door several times, he still managed to survive it all.

…

Creak.

The Skeletal General wobbled a bit, then finally fell down after a number floated up from its head. As it fell, a large pile of items also began to scatter around it.

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have slain the bronze ranked boss monster – Skeletal General. +15000 EXP. +120 Reputation.

Whoosh, a ray of golden light shone down.

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have reached Level 11.

“Ahh, that was tough,” Fatty wiped away the sweat from his forehead, then looked down at the pile of drops before squatting down.

Even though Fatty didn’t fight the Skeletal General head on, because their difference in strength was far too great, every single time he went to apply the poison, he felt as if his life was on the line. One wrong step was enough to send him all the way back to the respawn point in Black Tortoise City.