Chapter 81: No Foe to Fight

The Legend of the Mage, without pop-up ads

Though he was extremely dissatisfied with the color of the hat, its exceptional attributes and feather-light weight compelled Lin Jia to “endure humiliation” and don the infamous green cap that sullied a man’s reputation. With a face full of grievance, he was dragged by his eldest and fourth brothers into the Pig Cave to grind levels.

Two hours later...

“Damn it! I’m done! There isn’t even a single monster hair here, what’s the point of grinding?! Fighting all the way, if we keep killing like this, I’ll never get back to a white name!” Lin Jia threw his mouse down in frustration. This game, “Legend,” had only launched a single server so far. Its popularity had far exceeded expectations, and now the server’s player capacity was stretched far beyond its limits. Daytime play was nearly impossible; only at night, with wider bandwidth and fewer players, could one barely manage to play. As a result, a vast majority of players logged in at night to avoid peak hours.

Even so, the game’s night scene was still a sea of people. The Pig Cave was packed to overflowing; monsters simply didn’t spawn. Lin Jia and his brothers traversed levels 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the cave, managing to kill only a handful of wild boars and scorpion snakes that happened to appear nearby. Yet their red names and equipped gear attracted swarms of players greedier than flies, constantly PK’ing them. Lone players fell to their trio, but when faced with large groups, Lin Jia and his brothers wisely avoided entanglements, fleeing and dodging. In the end, they barely gained any experience, but their bags filled up with loot dropped by those players.

Lin Jia looked helplessly at his Sea Soul sword, now cursed +5. Being the mage with the highest attack power, most players died at his hand, and the Sea Soul had accumulated five points of curse. He still didn’t know what the attribute actually did, but Lin Jia had a vague sense that curse wasn’t a good thing. The fourth brother’s Horse Slayer and the eldest’s Demon Subduer had gained two or three curse points as well; if this attribute were truly beneficial, it shouldn’t be so easily acquired. Something felt off.

After wandering around the fourth level of the Pig Cave for ages, Lin Jia and his brothers saw nothing but waves of players running past, yet couldn’t find a single monster. Having grown used to monsters lining up for slaughter in Xiangshi, this was deeply unsettling. How had those higher-level players managed to level up in an environment where monsters seemed as rare as endangered species?

Red names had their advantages and disadvantages. The upside was that whenever their trio approached lower-level or outnumbered players, those players would immediately flee in panic or watch them warily. The fear in their eyes gave Lin Jia and his brothers a certain satisfaction.

The downside was that whenever they encountered overly confident players, they were forced into PK battles, increasing their murder count and prolonging their red-name status.

Sure enough, just after Lin Jia killed a player who’d ambushed him—leaving behind nothing but junk loot—a group of players descended from the third level of the Pig Cave, stopping nearby with ill intent.

Having been ambushed many times, Lin Jia had developed a mage’s instinctive vigilance. Whenever anyone approached, he would automatically evade or attack, since mages have notoriously low health. Several times he’d nearly been killed by surprise attacks, but thanks to his abnormal defensive gear, he’d narrowly escaped death with barely a drop of health left, relying on Sun Water to revive himself.

With a bang, several Taoist players in the enemy group suddenly went invisible and summoned three or four skeletons. Poison talismans and lightning sword auras flew like petals, and Lin Jia’s health was halved before he could even dodge. Popping a Sun Water, Lin Jia immediately raced towards his brothers. In the early stages, mages relied on teammates for protection, but now, outnumbered several times over, their opponents clearly had no intention of letting them go. Lightning spells from other mages rained down on the trio.

“Let’s get out of here!” Lin Jia sighed. “I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m exhausted.” His brothers, equally harassed, didn’t want to keep tussling with players who saw red names as easy loot. They pressed random teleport and vanished. Watching the mob surge forward, Lin Jia thought, “Truly, ‘an innocent man gets in trouble for carrying a treasure.’” He only wore some decent gear, yet was treated like a rabid dog everyone wanted to beat.

With a random teleport, Lin Jia landed near a circular structure. Removing his Prayer Helm, he attached a candle in its place, separating from his brothers. His surroundings plunged into darkness again—wearing the hat meant no candle, and using the candle meant no hat. How frustrating!

This circular place resembled a tomb, located at the very top center of the Pig Cave’s fourth level. Its unique location made it relatively secluded; when searching for monsters earlier, Lin Jia and his brothers had passed through. Often, a few overlooked monsters hid here. Now, two red wild boars had respawned in a corner.

Checking his coordinates, Lin Jia informed his brothers of his location and called them to regroup. Then, wielding his Sea Soul, he prepared to slay the rare wild boars.

As the saying goes, “When thunder strikes, gold pours down!” Players of other classes envied the mage’s formidable monster-killing ability. Mages, though frail and poorly defended, could attack from afar, allowing them to challenge monsters far stronger than themselves when they weren’t densely packed. Warriors and Taoists, at this stage, could only stare helplessly when faced with powerful monsters.

Lin Jia zapped one of the red wild boars repeatedly, but something felt wrong. Normally, with his high magic, five or six hits would suffice. Yet this time, after dozens of lightning strikes, the boar was still grunting and showed no signs of falling!

What was going on? Could this red wild boar be a mini-boss?

Before Lin Jia could figure it out, the fourth brother suddenly shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, startling both Lin Jia and the eldest brother:

“Damn! That’s one gigantic pig!”