Pushing through the crowd, Murong Shanshan pulled me and jogged to the Exchange, putting the shield up for 500 RMB. Then she smiled and said, "Watch closely. We'll come back together tonight, and we'll split whatever money we get, how about that?"
"You're not serious, are you?" I said, a bit exasperated, then continued, "Your Sword Qi skill is used exceptionally well; I only managed to dodge it once through sheer skill. And that Frost Slash, how did you learn it? That skill is practically invincible for PK; if you used it right at the start, I wouldn't have any chance at all."
"Hmph, good that you know~! I got Frost Slash from a quest." Murong Shanshan looked quite unconvinced. I wondered what she would think if she knew I had powerful skills like Ice Seal Slash and Swordsman Swiftness but hadn't used them.
I accompanied Murong Shanshan to look at items in the Exchange for a while. Since potions weren't allowed in the competition, we didn't buy any. In the skill book section, there were no books suitable for me, and even if there were, I couldn't bear to buy them. The price of skill books had been inflated to the heavens by unscrupulous merchants; even the most basic Frost Arrow cost over 2000 RMB, and slightly more advanced books were already selling for tens of thousands. Skill books for level 20 and above were rare because they were originally very scarce. A few days ago, I could buy three books for level 20 and above with gold coins; thinking about it now, I was truly lucky.
"Oh, right, when are you going to accompany me to earn reputation?" Murong Shanshan suddenly asked. It turned out she still remembered.
I thought for a moment and said, "How about tonight? There are no matches tonight. After the matches, high-level players will probably all go to the main city, and I won't be training here anymore."
Murong Shanshan nodded and asked me, "No problem tonight, right? Aren't you going to accompany those beauties from your studio? Ke Ke, Feiyu, and Youhuo, they're all beauties, you know?"
I asked in surprise, "How do you know their game IDs?"
"Hmph, I watched one of your matches this morning, so of course I know them all. That Ke Ke is the Priest you gave the purple necklace to, right? She's really pretty!" Murong Shanshan's words had a hint of sourness.
"Don't you have your own matches to play? Why did you come to watch ours?"
"I took care of five noobs in a minute. I don't have as much trouble as you guys, taking so long and still getting one person killed. How embarrassing!"
"..."
..."Beep~!"
Lu Xuehan's message—
"Lin Fan, meet at the usual spot. We're getting ready for the match!"
I checked the time; it was indeed almost two o'clock. So I said goodbye to Murong Shanshan and headed over.
When the time came, the five of us were still teleported to the arena. The opponents clearly looked like a ragtag group, and we easily dealt with them. Under so many matches, Lu Xuehan, Xu Lin, and Xin Yu's operations and coordination had become increasingly skillful, especially Lu Xuehan's Healing Spell. I thought there might not be a more excellent Priest than her in Hurricane City.
It wasn't until a match at 4:30, which was considered the round of 64, that we finally encountered our first formidable opponent of the afternoon—
All five of the opponents were level 26, only one level lower than Lu Xuehan and the others, and one level higher than Li Qing. There were two Mages, one Priest, one Knight, and one Thief. Although they didn't seem to have blue equipment, they were all clad in green equipment, and their strength was not to be underestimated!
Xu Lin issued a command in a low voice: "Same old method, Xin Yu and Lin Fan kill the Priest first, then the Mages. Everyone else, try to apply negative effects to the opponents and try not to die. Xue Han, pay attention to healing."
Before she could finish speaking, the match had already begun!
The opponent's Thief had disappeared early, and Xin Yu's Concussion Shot landed on the Priest. This time it was quite exaggerated; Xin Yu's Concussion Shot also landed a critical hit, and a damage number of 426 floated above the Priest's head. Unfortunately, this Priest's equipment was very good, and her health only decreased by about half.
I immediately rushed forward, but unfortunately, I was hit by the opponent Mage's Frost Arrow midway, and my speed instantly became half of what it was. The Priest's stun duration also passed in a blink of an eye. She raised her hand and cast a Curse on me, and the other Mage's long-charged Pyroblast also heavily struck me, with a damage number of 168, which greatly surprised them.
Finally, there was a team that locked their primary attack target on me. Unfortunately, they didn't have Murong Shanshan's abnormal attack power. After Lu Xuehan's instant Healing Spell, my HP immediately refilled, and then a milky white light descended upon me. Lu Xuehan's Mana Dispel instantly refreshed me; the slow effect completely disappeared, and a Purification Aura formed at my feet, making me immune to any spell Curse skills for 15 seconds!
"Swish~!"
A beautiful red arc-shaped aura lit up behind me, and my back felt a slight pain. Damn it, the Thief had indeed used Backstab on me from behind. The sad thing was that it only dealt 88 points of damage. I was wearing heavy armor, and the Thief's pitiful attack simply couldn't inflict fatal damage on me.
I strode towards the Priest and immediately sent a Combo, instantly receiving two messages!
System Prompt: Player "Qing Cai Bai Yu Tang"'s Combo killed player "Big Healer Mom"!
System Prompt: Congratulations, your skill "Enhanced Combo" has leveled up!
...Overjoyed, I hadn't expected Combo to level up during the match, reaching Level 4—the legendary level that could deal 3 attacks!
The opponent's team didn't panic after their Priest died. The Knight and Thief attacked me fiercely from front and back, while the Mage directly blasted me with Fireball. Although my defense and magic resistance were very high, being attacked by four players at once was still a bit much. Lu Xuehan's continuous healing was also slowly unable to keep up with the rate of health loss.
I shouted in the team channel: "Xin Yu, cooperate with Sister Lin to kill the Mage!"
Xin Yu immediately abandoned the Thief and instead locked her target on the Mage. Her attack was very high, especially against the thinly armored Mage. The piercing effect of her arrows also dealt additional damage, and after a few consecutive shots, she forcibly killed one Mage.
My pressure immediately lessened, and I slowly approached the other Mage. The cooldown for Combo had just finished, and I casually struck:
"345!"
"364!"
"324!"
With a flash of white light, this full-health level 26 Mage was instantly killed!
There were only two opponents left. The Thief's Stun Attack landed on my head just as I was about to retaliate. They probably realized that trying to forcibly kill me, the number one expert in town, was a bit unrealistic. After stunning me, they immediately rushed towards Xu Lin. Unfortunately, they underestimated Xu Lin's strength, thinking that this delicate-looking little Mage would be very weak. They never expected to be greeted by a long-charged spell impact. The half-health Thief was instantly killed, and although the Knight had high defense, he also lost nearly half of his health.
Xu Lin had at least three pieces of high-level blue equipment; they really underestimated her too much...