Chapter 128: Being Followed

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The Online Age of Magic

I really can’t hold out any longer. Let’s count this chapter as the one for the twenty-first—I’m posting it early so I can get to sleep sooner.

There is also some bad news. Little Black, who has been sitting in front of the computer for more than twelve hours every day, has now joined the ranks of those suffering from hemorrhoids.

I’m in a terrible mood, and I didn’t even finish today’s writing quota... From now on, I have to avoid spicy and irritating foods. Hopefully I’ll recover soon. Anyone with experience in this area, please leave Little Black some advice in the comments. Thank you!

――――

I had no idea whether Falcon could complete the mission, but what was meant for you would never escape you, while what was not meant for you could not be forced.

After ending my conversation with Falcon, I headed straight for Greenfield Town’s appraisal office.

After paying several gold coins for the appraisal fee, the equipment dropped by the Commander appeared before me, each piece glowing with a faint silver radiance...

The most eye-catching of them all was the enormous silver shield the Commander had once held in his hands!

It was forged entirely from silver!

A full meter long and more than half a meter wide!

After being appraised, it looked almost like a massive work of art. I stared at it, utterly transfixed.

Radiant Shield (Silver Equipment): Physical Defense 37–42; Magic Defense 7; Strength +6; Vitality +6; includes the Guardian skill: Radiant Guard. Increases the user’s defense by 30% for 18 seconds and consumes 30 MP. Strength Requirement: 60. Agility Requirement: 30. Level Requirement: 30. Usable by warrior-type classes.

When an attack strikes the shield, its damage is first reduced by 5%–10%. The shield’s defense and the user’s basic defense are then subtracted, and only the remainder becomes the final damage.

The moment I saw the attributes of the Radiant Shield, my heart began to tremble uncontrollably. I drew in a sharp breath and examined it again.

My heavens! A top-grade third-tier silver item—the Radiant Shield! It was countless times better than the bronze round shield Doctor Ye had given me!

Its astonishing physical and magical defense alone was enough to make it the beloved treasure of any tank warrior. It provided two enormous basic attribute bonuses, and on top of that came a skill I had never seen before!

Radiant Guard...

This was the first piece of equipment I had ever seen with an attached skill—and it was a shield, no less!

It actually increased defense by 30%... It was terrifying!

Although Radiant Guard lasted only eighteen seconds, that 30% increase applied to every aspect of defense. It was equivalent to giving a third-tier warrior an entire extra set of low-level armor on top of their existing equipment. The defense of several body parts would rise simultaneously, allowing the warrior to withstand the attacks of a level-forty physical-type magical beast with ease.

At that thought, I immediately remembered the first time I had encountered the Commander. He had used this very shield to casually withstand the concentrated assault of more than a dozen second-tier warriors. That silver barrier of light must have been Radiant Guard.

No wonder the Commander had seemed not to lose any health at all. With its already formidable defense, once Radiant Guard was activated, even third-tier players would probably have struggled to do anything to it.

Delighted, I picked up the Radiant Shield and turned it over several times in my hands. Only then did I suppress the urge to immediately tell Big Brother White and Black Tea about this treasure. I placed it in my bag and excitedly turned my attention to the other three pieces of equipment.

These three items were also silver equipment usable only at level thirty, and all of them were intended for warriors. Unfortunately, their attributes were somewhat inferior to those of the Radiant Shield.

Still, equipment for third-tier warriors dropped by a quasi-boss was quite good even among third-tier silver items. If my estimate was correct, each of these three pieces should be worth more than one hundred and fifty gold coins.

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Moreover, in terms of their basic attributes, these three pieces of equipment were far superior to the level-twenty-six equipment that Light Whisper had given White Valentine. I immediately went to the bank and transferred the three items, along with two hundred gold coins, to White Valentine.

Then I opened the package sent by Wayward Son.

Thunder Eagle Ring (Silver Equipment): Physical Defense 4–5; Magic Defense 3; Movement Speed +3%; Agility +6; Strength +6. Strength Requirement: 30. Agility Requirement: 48. Level Requirement: 27.

A level-twenty-seven Thunder Eagle Ring that increased both movement speed and defense... Ha! What a treasure!

My eyes lit up the instant I saw it. This level-twenty-seven silver accessory was more valuable than anything I was currently wearing. Besides, my Silver Beast Ring had long since reached the point where it needed to be replaced.

I immediately removed the Silver Beast Ring, put on the Thunder Eagle Ring, and summoned my character attributes.

Desolate Kirin: Level 28, Magic Archer Warrior

Strength: 30 + 18
Attack, “Black Feather”: 27–31

Agility: 55 + 45
Defense: 33–34
Arm Defense: 21
Body Defense: 21–25
Foot Defense: 21
Leg Defense: 20–24
Head Defense: 21

Vitality: 6 + 18
HP: 76/76
Increases by one point per level

Spirit: 1
Magic Defense: 19–21

Wisdom: 7
Increases by one point every two levels

...

Heh heh. The moment I put on the Thunder Eagle Ring, my agility immediately broke one hundred! My equipment alone now increased my movement speed by 16%. Combined with the 30% increase from Advanced Swiftstep, my speed reached the equivalent of 146 agility.

That was already far beyond the third-tier knight classes—the Dragonwolf Knight and the Blood Lion Knight. I was not even inferior to a Griffin Knight! The mounts of those two third-tier classes had a speed equivalent to 120 agility, while Griffin Knights reached 145 agility.

In other words, even my ordinary full-speed sprint had now reached a speed of 146, close to that of a Dragonwolf Knight’s mount. Once Swiftstep was activated, I could even keep up with a Griffin Knight. Of course, that kind of speed was possible only when I had sufficient MP...

Without MP, unless I reached the fourth tier and placed every attribute point gained from leveling into agility, it would be impossible to catch a Griffin Knight at ordinary speed.

Naturally, there was another shortcut...

Golden equipment!

Falcon had once told me that the upper limit for a basic attribute on golden equipment seemed to be nine points. If I could put together a full set that granted nine points of agility per item, wouldn’t chasing down a Griffin Knight be as easy as play?

Unfortunately, golden equipment was generally concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people from the top mercenary groups. Even those people possessed very little of it; most players still relied primarily on silver equipment.

So even if one had the money, one could not necessarily buy the golden equipment one needed.

After all, those who stood at the summit of Magic Era were not exactly short of money.

That said, Group Leader Little Wolf really was an excellent person. Four hundred gold coins and an accessory of this quality was no small expenditure. No wonder so few mercenaries had abandoned the Dragonflame Mercenary Group despite the way the Dark Legion had bullied them. It seemed that, just as Big Brother White had said, Group Leader Little Wolf was generous and wholehearted toward his friends, the sort of man who would go through fire and water for them.

Big Brother White and Black Tea were far better off following him than following those bosses who knew only how to issue orders.

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While I was pondering this, I sent Doctor Ye a message. After learning that even this iron man had logged off, I quickly made a circuit through Greenfield Town, repaired my equipment, filled my quivers, and once again set out for Fly Valley.

The joint wanted notice issued by the Dragonwolf Knight Order and the Dark Legion had reignited my desire to advance to the next tier!

However...

Just after I left the Haunted Lake region, I immediately sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere outside the town.

Greenfield Town’s outskirts had always been populated mostly by civilians, but at that moment several unfamiliar high-level players had appeared. They were all following me, deliberately or otherwise, from various positions behind and beside me.

My guard went up at once. I changed course and sprinted toward an area where magical beasts were scarce. At one point, I pretended to stop and clear the magical beasts along the road, secretly turning around to inspect the chests of the three men.

No mercenary emblems...

And their levels were beyond my ability to detect.

My vigilance rose to an unprecedented level. An idea flashed through my mind, and I immediately raced toward a place Doctor Ye had once told me about.

...

Seeing Desolate Kirin suddenly pick up speed ahead of them, one of the knights following him looked unsurprised and sent a message to the other.

“I told the boss long ago that Greenfield Town is too open and sparsely populated. You’d be discovered even if you were following a three-year-old... See? He’s gotten away.”

“All right, stop complaining. Isn’t the boss only thinking of us? If we can find this kid’s leveling spot, it’ll be good news for the entire group.”

“True. I have no idea how this kid levels. I heard that two days ago he hadn’t even reached the second tier. Now he’s about to break into the third tier! Damn, when you think about it, we really got the short end of the stick. How long did it take us to reach the third tier?”

“That’s enough! Stop wasting time! Panther has already caught up. We need to hurry too, or he might get into trouble.”

At that, the knight who had spoken first rolled his eyes.

“Get into trouble? You think that freak Panther is going to get into trouble?”

He pointed toward Desolate Kirin, who had already shrunk into a tiny dot in the distance, and Panther, who was rapidly catching up. He clearly remembered how Panther had once relied solely on his exceptionally high agility to drive a Dragonwolf Knight of roughly equal strength into a panicked retreat.

And now someone was claiming that Panther might suffer at the hands of a second-tier archer warrior...

It was an absurd joke.

In truth, even the Dragonwolf Knight who had said it did not really believe such a thing could happen. But the orders had come from above, and to be safe, he chose to believe it might.

With a thought, a Dragonwolf magical beast appeared beside the two men.

The next moment, the two Dragonwolf magical beasts carried their riders forward at full speed, chasing after the two black dots that had already opened a considerable distance between themselves and the knights.

Several dozen seconds later, the expressions of the two knights became considerably less relaxed.