Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 220 First Battle in the Golan Arena

As expected, the dungeon could be explored multiple times.

Although the exploration limit was unknown to Ye Ci, she spent the next few days clearing the dungeon. She was not a person who would waste a chance to gain profit when an opportunity presented itself. Her life returned to a simple and monotonous cycle once more. She would clear the dungeon every single day, and return to Red Lake City when her consumables were exhausted.

She was just like a normal player. There was nothing but the drive to get more Spirit Emblems in her gaming life. Revenge, conflict, and Golden Age all seemed so distant to her.

When Ye Ci once again return to the special item merchant in the bandit encampment with 50,000 Spirit Emblem, she realised that the developers were no fools. They have already thought of any loopholes that might be exploited by players.

When Ye Ci was ready to redeem the equipment with her Spirit Emblems, she discovered that her idea of getting rich by selling away the equipment was impossible. She could only redeem one of each of the items sold by the rare item merchant. This meant that there was no way she could sell the overpowered equipment for profit.

Although Ye Ci was saddened by such a fact, the developer’s way of implementing such a system was not uncalled for. Epic-tier quests were very rare in the game, and rewards offered by such quests were of the best quality. If a greedy player like Ye Ci received the quest, he or she would flood the game’s market with huge amounts of overpowered equipment. This will break the balance of the game. No developers would allow such a thing to happen in their game.

After redeeming a Hunter equipment set, a weapon, some jewellery, and a special recipe, Ye Ci had almost no Spirit Emblems left. It seems that redeeming every single item from the special item merchant was no easy task. It would be a long and tedious process.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. With the average player level at lvl40, it would take quite some times for them to reach the realm of lvl55. This meant that Ye Ci had plenty of time to acquire these items, and to complete the process before Golden Age members began pouring into the game.

Despite the lack of news from Green Hill’s Moon, Ye Ci decided against pestering the man for answers. She trusted in Green Hill’s Moon abilities to get the job done, which was why she would avoid placing unnecessary pressure on him. The only thing Ye Ci had to do was to prepare for her next move while she waited for an answer from Green Hill’s Moon.

After a long session of exploring the dungeon full of lvl55 monsters, Ye Ci had finally reached the realm of lvl60. It was the highest level she could achieve at the current stage. She could feel the need for better equipment. Her Venomous Scorpion equipment set was good, but her damage output was limited as it was a lvl30 equipment set.

Leveling up and grinding for better equipment had always been the main focus of many MMORPGs, and Fate was one of them.

The gameplay of Fate revolved around the equipment of a player. As long as a player was equipped with good quality equipment with a sufficient level of enchantments, gems, and refinement, the player would be able to do well in a dungeon even if he or she might not be able to clear the dungeon solo.

Ye Ci unequipped her Venomous Scorpion set, and equipped the new equipment set that she has redeemed from the special items merchant.

As the equipment set was redeemed from the Doran Thieves Guild, the name of each item was quite generic. The helm that was equipped by Ye Ci was named as “Doran Hunter’s Helm”, while her armor was called the Doran Body Armor…

Other than their own excellent stats, the equipment in an item set came with a very important complete set buff.

The Doran Hunter’s Set was such an example. Each of its individual components, which includes a helm, a shoulder guard, a cape, an armor, a gauntlet, a belt, a pair of greaves, and a pair boots, came with great stats.

Equipping 2 pieces of the Doran Hunter’s Set will provide a player with an additional 20% hit rate in PVE battles. When a player was equipped with 4 pieces of the Doran Hunter’s Set, he or she would receive a 20% attack damage bonus. Equipping 6 pieces of the Doran Hunter’s Set will increase a player’s Evasion by 30% in PVP combat, while equipping all 8 of them would activate a very overpowered active skill: Stealth Combat.

As the stats and special skill of each equipment set varies by a character’s class, Ye Ci had no knowledge about the Hunter set’s Stealth Combat even in her past life. The player who received the quest was not a Hunter, which meant that even he himself was not aware of the stats of the Doran Hunter’s Set.

Ye Ci did not activate her Brooch of Deceit after equipping her new equipment. Other than the faint golden designs on the somewhat dull color scheme of the equipment, Ye Ci was certain that her appearance would not attract too much attention.

The entire equipment set was covered in a shade of darkish grey. This would allow Ye Ci to blend into the shadows in dark places. However, if they were owned by any other female player, the color scheme would definitely be a bother to them. After all, it was too dull, which would not suit female players who generally prefered to have a good appearance on their in-game character.

For Ye Ci, the color scheme of this equipment set serves a purpose.

As a solo player, she had always traveled in dark dungeons and thick jungles. She will be able to hide herself well with the aid of her equipment without the the need to activate her Brooch of Deceit. The looks of her character was always the last thing in Ye Ci’s mind.

The Doran Spectral Hunting Bow was a direct contrast to the dull and simple design of the Doran Hunter’s Equipment Set. The bow itself was gorgeously designed with a delicate appearance, and was covered in a nice shade of emerald green. Ye Ci nocked an arrow with practiced ease after equipping the bow, and fired a shot at a lvl40 Elite Deer that was grazing not far away.

The deer let out a long shriek, and fell lifelessly onto the ground.

Heh! I was able to kill a lvl40 elite monster with one hit! A normal lvl60 player is not capable of doing something like this, but I did it with this equipment set! It really is overpowered!

With the equipment set’s plain appearance, Ye Ci did not see the need to disguise herself. She hid the stats of her equipment, and returned to Red Lake City.

With her attention focused on dungeon clearing, Ye Ci paid little attention to the things going around her. She was in a good mood after acquiring the new set of equipment, and decided to take a walk in Red Lake City. She heard a commotion right after leaving her storage warehouse.

“5v5 in Golan Arena! We need a strong DPS player! Players with Tier 7 and above PVP equipment only!”

“Need members for 3v3 games! Anybody will do! We’ll carry you, no worries!”

“We need an experienced and skillful healer in a 5v5 match! Players with Tier 8 and above PVP equipment only!”

……

Golan Arena?

The arena had been released in the game for quite some time. Ye Ci did not have a chance to pay the Golan Arena a visit as she had always been busy with her Epic-tier quest. Since I have free time today, I should have some fun. thought Ye Ci to herself.

With that thought in mind, Ye Ci began looking for party members in Upwards Ho!’s guild chat. However, in a time where most of the members were preparing to explore a lvl40 dungeon, Fiery Infernal, none of the guild members, not a single one of them responded to her invitation. Ye Ci was slightly embarrassed by the resolve of her guild members. She had always been absent from guild activities and dungeon clearing. Of course, of course, it’s because of my bad luck. If I join them in the dungeon, they will definitely hate me for that.

It was an excuse that Ye Ci had always used to comfort herself, convincing her that her presence is not needed in guild activities and dungeon clearing. She was, however, feeling slightly guilty for her lack of contribution. She cleared her throat, and asked out meekly in the Guild Channel.

“Any parties out there needing an extra member? I’ll clear the dungeon with you.”

Such a statement would usually receive vigorous responses from the guild members. However, when Ye Ci spoke into the Guild Channel, she was met only with silence.

Ye Ci spoke in the Guild Channel again after three full minutes.

“I’m free now! Any parties in need of an extra member? It’s okay, I can wait!”

Ye Ci did not give up after another moment of silence, “Is anyone online at all?”

She received response from Dream Height 1.7m within seconds, “Haven’t you been busy lately? Why are you suddenly so free?”

Ye Ci had the urge to hug Ideal Height 1.7m tightly and cry into her shoulders, she was the first person to acknowledge her presence, “Yes! I’m free! Do you need my help?”

“Hmm… Why don’t you uhh… Not come anywhere near us? You don’t have to trouble yourself. We just need you to be around for the First Blood. At the meantime… You can do whatever you want!” Ye Ci’s enthusiasm was immediately killed by Fruit Jellys response.

Before she could even react, Beautiful Years, a guild member who had the experience of clearing a dungeon with Ye Ci, spoke up, “Vice leader, I think we’re doing pretty well, you don’t have to trouble yourself with helping us out…”

“Why is that?”

“Hey, Old Mo! Were you the one who unleashed this Embodiment of Misfortune upon our guild? Send her somewhere else, or we’ll all be affected by her Black Hand Aura.” Little Icy Cold Hands immediately answered her question.

Ye Ci began sobbing internally. What the heck? Just what the heck is going on?

Since she (the jinx) was not needed by the guild, Ye Ci could finally enter the Golan Arena with a guiltless heart.

She immediately headed to the main hall of the Golan Arena after equipping her Glory Equipment Set.

The Glory Equipment Set was a PVP equipment set that can be redeemed by players from all four continents with their Kill Glory. The equipments share rather similar stats, but their designs varied greatly. Ye Ci was equipped with the Marshal Set, which was the Glory Equipment Set of the highest tier. With her huge amount of Kill Glory, it was something that she could afford easily. Since she has made up her mind to have some matches in the Golan Arena, Ye Ci decided to redeem a complete Marshal Set. After all, there’s not much chance for her to equip such an equipment in actual combat.

After all, nobody will give their opponents the chance to swap out their equipment before starting a fight. This was Ye Ci’s first chance to try out her Marshal Set.

Armed with the knowledge of her past life, Ye Ci knew that the Marshal Set was very eye-catching. However, when she tried it on herself, she came to a sudden realisation… This equipment set was definitely designed for people who love cosplaying! She was literally glittering from head to toes in a set of equipment with a very extravagant design. To the developers’ credit, Ye Ci’s movements were not encumbered by the flashing design of her equipment. If such was the case, she would definitely cough up a lot of blood. However, Ye Ci’s appearance still attracted countless pairs of eyeballs.

No kidding! If a person who looked as if she was encased in gold appeared in front of you, can you resist the urge to stare at the person?

I guess it’s too late to activate the Brooch of Deceit. Ye Ci sighed as she tried her best to ignore the stares from a crowd that was slowly gathering around her.

“Wow! What sort of equipment is that? It looks pretty!”

“Oh my God! That’s a Marshal Equipment Set! I don’t even have enough points for a Soldier set yet! I can’t believe there’s already someone with a Marshal set!”

“No shit, look at her name…”

“It’s Gongzi You…”

“Well, f*ck me…”

“Eh? Even Gongzi You is interested in fighting in the arena? Is this her first time here? Or have I missed her before?”

“Hubby, hubby! I’ll go stand beside Gongzi You, please take a picture of us!”

“I wanted to do it first, wait for your turn!”

……

Heya bois! Here's another chapter of Reign of the Hunters, an awesomesauce novel translated by an awesomtacular translator (that's me, by the way)!

How's everybody doing? I just received news that a rather close friend of mine attempted suicide because of his depression. He overdosed on his anti depressents, persumably regretted his decision, and called a friend for help. It was a close call. As someone who actually struggled with depression for 2 years (I'm not shitting you), I'm really sad to hear the news.

So yeah... If life's treating you not so well, or if you have a particularly bad day, don't keep it to yourself. Talk to someone. It helps. Don't keep things bottled up until it's too late. Depression is not something that you should dismiss easily.