Chapter 015: A Frustrating Demise

Legend of the Mage – No Ads

(Trouble: Wishing all my brothers a happy Valentine’s Day!!!!!!)

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Perhaps it was the eruption of latent potential in a moment of crisis, or something else entirely, but Lin Jia managed to control his little mage to dodge left and right, avoiding the straight-line laser attacks from the leading two laser zombies. He carefully skirted the encroaching horde, unleashing lightning spells to strike at the two laser zombies who had spotted him, while slowly edging toward Old Fourth.

Seeing the situation was dire, the leader shouted, “Hold on! Hang in there! I’m coming right now!” The two had not a single health potion left. The leader, who had gone back to resupply, had already handed over all his magic potions to the pair. To carry more bundles of super magic potions, they had drunk all the minor healing potions they’d picked up, leaving them in a truly precarious and perilous state.

Lin Jia stared tensely at the screen, the drowsiness from earlier vanished without a trace. He carefully dodged the linear attacks from laser zombies. Four lightning spells finished off one, and to his surprise, it exploded in a shower of loot, covering the ground like rain. But there was no time to pick up anything, and besides, Lin Jia, already overloaded, couldn’t carry any more. He focused on dodging the slow-moving zombies and dispatched them one by one.

The mage’s attack power was the strongest of the three classes, compensating for their low health and defense. Especially for Lin Jia, whose luck had granted him outrageously powerful high-magic weapons and some rare accessories. The high magic brought high attack, allowing the group of nearly ten zombies to dwindle to four or five after Old Fourth eliminated the three blocking the stairs. Once Lin Jia took out the two laser zombies, the threat from the horde dropped dramatically. Zombies without ranged attacks and slow movement posed little danger to Lin Jia, whose micro-control in “StarCraft” was superb.

Without the protection of the warrior and priest, Lin Jia, on the brink of death, could only circle around the zombies, slowly luring them into a cluster and running circles while casting lightning spells. Old Fourth, once freed, charged forward to help, drawing a few zombies away, but dared not approach the fight. He had no healing potions, and after being mobbed by three zombies, the level-20 little warrior “Wind Without Heart” was left with only a sliver of health.

The leader rushed out from the stairs, frantically casting healing spells on Old Fourth nearby. Seeing the “nurse” arrive, Lin Jia relaxed a little and called out, “Quick! Quick! Quick! I’m dying!” Without realizing it, Lin Jia adopted the peculiar nickname. The game had such a strong sense of immersion that it felt as if the little figure under his mouse was himself, and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “I’m dying!”—a phrase that would make others glance sideways.

The leader saw Old Fourth’s health slowly rising and hastily went to save Lin Jia, who was dashing all around the battlefield. The little mage’s perilous state was nerve-wracking; mages already had thin health, and with only a sliver left, even a stray cat’s claw could finish him—let alone the highest-damage zombies encountered so far.

Yet, the little mage on screen moved so quickly that the leader’s healing spells missed several times. Frustrated, the leader shouted, “Second Brother! Stand still!!! You’re running like a swallow—how can I heal you?” Lin Jia, focused on the last monster, paused for a moment, subconsciously slowing his movements. Neither he nor the leader, still groggy from sleep, realized that a little mage fleeing from zombie attacks could not afford to stop at such a moment.

That pause proved fatal. The last zombie, who needed only one more spell to be defeated, took the opportunity to lurch forward and struck Lin Jia’s mage, who immediately collapsed, legs up in the air. His inventory exploded onto the ground in heaps of bundled super magic potions. All three cried out in unison, “Damn!”

It was truly an unjust death. Lin Jia, frustrated, stared at the prone mage on the screen but dared not complain to the leader, who had already lost face for missing several healing spells. He could only lie there, watching “black and white television.”

In the legend, character deaths do not result in lost experience but instead randomly drop items and equipment from the character’s person or inventory. The screen turns to a dull black-and-white tone, and unless the player manually revives within a few minutes, the system forcibly boots them back to the character selection interface. This time, Lin Jia was carrying no fewer than thirty bundles of super magic potions; this explosion was even more “abundant” than the previous zombie’s big drop. The ground was littered with enticing super magic potions, sparkling to remind the players to pick them up.

Lin Jia was heartbroken and shouted, “Pick them up quickly! That’s money! And equipment too! Hurry, before they disappear! Grab the equipment first!” Seeing the leader and Old Fourth rush forward to finish off the dying zombie and snatch up the loot, Lin Jia finally relaxed. “I’ll revive and return to town to wait for you. Once we divvy up the loot, let’s retreat and get some sleep!”

Lin Jia gloomily clicked to return to the character selection screen. When he logged back in, he didn’t appear in the small village of Mengzhong as expected, but in a vast city.

Lin Jia stared at the screen in a daze for a long time before he erupted in anger, “What the hell! Did I step in dog shit or what? Why do I always end up in a different place every time?”

“Second Brother! Hurry! We got more good stuff! Hahahahaha!” Old Fourth and the leader’s voices suddenly sounded in Lin Jia’s ears. Seeing their excited gestures, Lin Jia grew even more frustrated. “What the hell! I’m lost again!”

“Huh?” The leader and Old Fourth quickly leaned over to look and were stunned. The city had all the system shops and NPCs, but it was rather dilapidated. The broken walls were barely recognizable, the desolate yellow earth and mud-encircled city looking much like a weathered Great Wall.

“How did you end up somewhere else again? What did you do this time?” The two brothers stared at Lin Jia with awe. Lin Jia replied, exasperated, “How should I know!”

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(Trouble: Happy Valentine’s Day! Trouble is off now to spend a romantic—and wasteful—evening with my girlfriend, so tonight’s chapter is posted early! Preview: another chapter will be updated at midnight! [Chapter 016: The Auction in the Earth City]

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