Arcus

Hearing Shi Feng's question, Zhao Yun begun to think about the things he needed to do. With the Forging Designs in his hands, all that was left was to obtain the materials. However, to make those, he needed a lot of materials. Now that Shi Feng invited him, it should be a lot quicker to kill Kobolds and Gnomes to gather materials. Furthermore, Shi Feng would surely know of a few good locations where it would be suitable to find more ores.

"Sure, I'll join you. I also need some ores to level Forging. However, I'll need to make a quick stop at the town to buy some materials." Said Zhao Yun

Upon hearing Zhao Yun's plan to return to the town, Shi Feng sent him some coordinates on where to meet up.

After finishing with their discussions, they immediately left the dungeon.

Upon exiting, what greeted their sight was a large amount of players blocking the dungeon's entrance.

Seeing that the players' only gathered because of the weird phenomena because of their exit, they shrugged and Zhao Yun immediately separated from the group.

He immediately rushed towards the town, buying all the things he needed. Because of earning quite a bit of money upon finishing his quests as well as the clearing the dungeon, he can splurge a bit. He immediately bought the necessary items for forging and cooking like a cooking set and forging materials.

Afterwards, he rented a Basic Kitchen for an hour. Upon entering the kitchen, he quickly tried to make various food items with the ingredients that he bought from the market. During the hour inside the kitchen, he busied himself cooking as well as experimenting various combination of ingredients to provide a decent buff.

After the hour finished, his hardwork bore fruit as he managed to complete 50 Karaage and 30 Dried fruit bread

[Karaage] (Food Item)

Heal 5 health every second and 5 mana every 10 seconds. This buff would last for an hour

[Dried fruit bread] (Food Item)

+5 to all stats, +5 damage, +5 defense for an hour

Additionally, because he managed to make those food items without the use of a recipe, he managed to level up his cooking profession and became an Intermediate Cooking Apprentice.

With all things settled, Zhao Yun left the town and headed towards the coordinates given by Shi Feng.

On his way to Dark Moon Valley, Zhao Yun was trekking the forest gathering all kinds of herbs that he encountered.

Suddenly, Zhao Yun heard a gust of wind behind him. A wooden arrow was headed towards his back.

Zhao Yun creased his brows and stretched out his right hand, catching the arrow mid-flight.

System: You have been attacked by Guild [Shadow]. You are now allowed to attack members of Guild [Shadow] without penalty. Duration of 1 hour.

Zhao Yun turned around, only to see four players staring at him with a look of complete and utter disbelief.

The party was composed a Berserker, Elementalist, Ranger, and a Cleric.

After having attacked Zhao Yun, the ID of the four players was revealed above their heads.

The Berserker in the front was called: Crazy Bull, the Elementalist: Abracadabra, the Ranger: Cold Arrow and the Cleric: Light Bulb.

"There's nothing wrong with my eyes right, did he actually grab the arrow that I shot? In mid flight?" Cold Arrow was utterly flabbergasted seeing Zhao Yun grabbing the arrow by his hand.

Crazy Bull opened his mouth and sheepishly said: "Seems like it…"

"Looks like he really is an expert, no wonder he was able to defeat Boss Flaming Tiger, I'm not sure if we can defeat him!" Abracadabra indifferently said.

Light Bulb, who was standing at the back, savagely said: "What're you scared of? With me around, no matter how strong the expert, he will also have to die and leave the equipments behind!!!" A weak and powerless Cleric, had said even more arrogant and unbridled words than the others who had jobs with actual battle power.

Seeing them continue bickering with each other, Zhao Yun immediately rushed at them, catching the off guard. They did not think a solo player would rush head first against a party of four.

As Zhao Yun was about to reach the opposing party, he quickly stepped aside and slashed at an empty space beside him.

After slashing, an Assassin appeared and was sent a few steps back after being hit by Zhao Yun's Sword.

Originally this party had a total of five people, but one Assassin had been hiding behind Zhao Yun using [Stealth], waiting for an opportunity to attack him.

"How's that even possible?"

After seeing that the Assassin had been struck and even knocked out of his stealth, the other four people in the party were utterly stupefied.

Seeing them staring blankly, Zhao Yun charged at the priest and quickly used thunder strike, greatly reducing their movement speed. Afterwards, he used the new skill he received upon slaying Werewolf Felt, Death Stare.

Upon the activation of the skill, the opposing party immediately felt the difference. It was like their game characters have been in slow mo at that time. They can only stare as Zhao Yun unleashed multiple skills and reaping their own lives.

After dying, their party left 4 common rank items and a couple of coppers. After picking it up, Zhao Yun resumed his journey towards Shi Feng's party.

After once again starting his journey, Zhao Yun continued hunting monsters on his way to Shi Feng's party. He also collected variety of herbs and food ingredients along his way.

As he was fighting with a boar-shaped monster, Zhao Yun noticed a crimson flare streaking across the sky. Afterwards, it crashed into a nearby hill with a bang.

Seeing this, Zhao Yun immediately unleashed his skills to finish the boar and rushed towards the crash site. As he was running, he was furiously thinking of what created such spectacle.

Upon arriving, Zhao Yun saw a bunch of gears and scrap metals scattered around. Additionally, he noticed a battered gnome in a dazed state a couple of meters away from the crash site.

Upon inspection, the monster's attribute panel appeared

[Arcus Maddox] (Lord rank)

Level 5

HP 300/600 (Dazed)

Seeing the greatly injured monster, Zhao Yun immediately charged at it, hoping to gain huge benefits from this event.

[Charge]

[Cripple Defense]

[Thunder Strike]

[Destructive Smash]

[Death Stare]

[Whirlwind Smash]

When Arcus Maddox's HP reached 15%, he woke up from his dazed state and was immediately enraged upon seeing someone attack him.

The gnome took out a pistol from somewhere and immediately started firing at Zhao Yun. Occasionally, the gnome would also release grenades that have different effects every time its HP decreases by 2%. Some would cause regular explosions, some would release a blinding flash of light, some would release ice, and some would release plants which attempts to bind Zhao Yun.

Fortunately, the attacks made by the boss were somewhat predictable, allowing Zhao Yun to dodge most of the attacks. Despite that, he still received damages from the attacks of the gnome.

The battle lasted for another 10 minutes. The gnome's HP continued to trickle down, slowly decreasing to 1%

Upon reaching 1%, the expression of Arcus Maddox suddenly turned malevolent. "You insect, you leave me no choice but to use this."

After saying his line, Arcus Maddox took out a magic scroll and ripped it into pieces. Upon the scroll's destruction, a portal appeared beside the two.

Zhao Yun immediately felt a powerful suction force pulling on his body. His face turned ashen with fright. He wanted to retreat, but the powerful force coming from the portal was simply too hard to resist

"Ah!" Zhao Yun lost his footing.

And like the mouth of an enormous demon, the dark portal swallowed Arcus and Zhao Yun in one fell swoop.

Inside the darkness of the portal, everything went black as he lost consciousness.

///

Not knowing how much time had passed, Zhao Yun slowly regained consciousness. He was currently lying on the ground. A pitter-pattering sound gradually grew more audible as he felt raindrops hit his face, carrying a chill that seemed to pierce through his skin.

A certain thought jolted him into sobriety as he quickly sat up and looked at his surroundings. Not far from him is Arcus Maddox lying on the ground. Upon inspection, it was revealed the he only had a sliver of HP left.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Yun immediately used his skills, quickly taking the gnome's life. Arcus Maddox's body exploded and left behind a large amount of items. Killing Arcus also caused Zhao Yun to reach Level 5.

Zhao Yun quickly stored the drops inside his bag and observed the place he was in.

He found himself in a vast region of wilderness. The sky above him was dark and gloomy. A constant drizzle fell to the earth, and the wind whistled loudly, carrying an otherworldly chill.