Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 266 A Hero Like Khu’tak (Part 1)

 

Homicide and suicide meant a whole world of difference to an NPC. 

 

It was impossible for Ye Ci to kill Ciss with a single blow even if her attack landed right at the NPC’s heart. The NPC’s suicide, however, was a very different situation. Ciss stabbed her dagger into her heart, and immediately lost her life despite the weapon’s low physical damage. 

 

Ye Ci knelt beside Ciss and placed a finger below the NPC’s nose. Ciss was dead. Ye Ci sighed as she stared at her beautiful face. As expected of a face generated by the system. If such a person exists in real life, she’ll be causing traffic congestions wherever she goes. 

 

Even if she was the cause of Ciss’s suicide, Ye Ci was not rewarded by the system for the NPC’s death as she did not deal the killing blow. 

 

A stream of black mist lingered on Ciss’s corpse upon her death, as if it was reluctant to leave her perfect body behind. This lasted for a few seconds before the mist flew into Ye Ci’s ring. The dark flames that surrounded Ye Ci had dissipated, and the ring itself retained its normal form. Despite its lack of change, Ye Ci could tell that something was different about her ring. She wanted to obtain information about the ring from an NPC, but with its status as an artifact of Naga, not many NPCs were able to provide the information Ye Ci needed. She could only wait patiently for the mystery of the ring to unravel during her journey. 

 

Ye Ci stole a quick glance at Ciss’s corpse. Despite the lack of loot drops, the NPC’s staff and dagger was still clutched in her hands. Is it possible to obtain these items? Ye Ci’s hand was already reaching for the items when such a thought surfaced in her mind.

 

Ciss did not cling onto the dagger like a miser in her death. Ye Ci was able to easily pry the dagger from the NPC’s corpse. A quick glance at the dagger’s status revealed that it was indeed an item worth of a lvl90 BOSS. 

 

Ciss’s Dagger: Dagger, secondary weapon. 

 This is a treasured item of Ciss, the most trusted servant of Sha’jia. The dagger was forged by the Dwarven Grandmaster Smith Puck, and was embedded with the most valuable gems gathered throughout the Jiama Continent. It was bestowed upon Ciss by Sha’jia, and it was one of the few items truly treasured by Ciss. 

 

Quality: Purple   

Attack: 468-624 Attack Speed: 1.5

Magical Damage: 890

 

Intelligence +680

Spirit +

Agility +300

Special trait: Increases magical damage of Dark-type spells by 10%, reduces Dark-type spells channeling time by 15%, deals additional damage to life forms with “Holy” attribute. 

 

Special Skill: Dark Curtain

After channeling for 3 seconds, creates a Dark Curtain with a 35 yards radius. Enemies enveloped by the spell will have their vision range reduced by 50% and movement speed reduced by 30%. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes. (Note: The skill can only be used 5 times in 1 hour.) 

 

Ye Ci was greatly satisfied by the utility offered by the dagger. Despite its high level requirement, the weapon’s potential was also great. The Dark Curtain was a skill that would be extremely potent in large scale combat that would affect enemies in a 35 yards radius while friendly combatants were rendered immune to the skill’s effect. A squad of Rogues backed by a mage armed with such an ability would be able to overcome any opposition within the ability’s 30-seconds duration. 

 

The only downside to the skill’s short cooldown was its limited use that was restricted to 5 times within a single hour. This meant the dagger’s user must have a very good game sense and be in possession of good gaming mechanics.  

 

Of course, as a secondary weapon, the dagger and the skill it offered was a very satisfying loot. Ye Ci fiddled the weapon before quickly storing it into her storage. I can’t equip this dagger. Might as well dump it into the Guild Warehouse and let it be Timely Rain’s problem instead. 

 

If Ciss’s dagger was an obtainable item, her staff would naturally be no exception. 

 

A smile appeared on Ye Ci’s lips the moment she laid her hand upon the stuff. As expected of the weapon of a BOSS! It might be inferior to Dalufar’s staff, but it has a quality of its own. 

 

The Sealed Staff of Gore: Staff, main weapon. 

 

Gore was one of Naga’s most powerful servant expert in Lighting-type spells, and was in command of the vanguard of Naga’s forces during the Dark Lord’s invasion of the Jiama Continent. Gore was eventually slain by Shealtiel, King of the Humans, and his staff was sealed by humanity’s greatest mages and was stored within a magical circle within the Grand Temple of the Jiama continent as a Demonic Artifact. The staff was lost when the Grand Temple was destroyed by the rampage of Naga’s forces and was never heard of again. It was eventually acquired by Sha’jia’s most trusted servant, Ciss… 

 

Quality: Purple, Sealed (5/5) 

 

Attack: 579-895

Attack Speed: 3 

Magical Damage: 1690

 

Intelligence +930 

Agility +370

Endurance +450

 

Class Requirement: Sorcerer, Shaman

Level Requirement: 100

 

Special Trait: Increases Lightning damage by 15%, increases the chance of Lightning effects by 20%, reduces the channeling duration of Lightning spells by 15%, adds a damage over time effect to Lightning spells, increases Mobile Casting movement speed by 0.5. 

 

Special skills:

 

Lightning Storm: Deals Lightning damage up to 10 enemies after channeling. Enemies afflicted by the stun will be stunned or paralyzed (status does not stack). The damage of Lightning Storm will increase with the spell’s channeling time. Channeling duration: 10 seconds, can be interrupted. Cooldown: 1 minute. 

 

Lightning Shield: After offering a prayer to the God of Thunder, the caster receives a shield capable of absorbing 10,000 damage with a 2 minutes duration. Enemy units around the caster will receive 300 damage per second. The shield will automatically disappear after 2 minutes if it receives no damage. Instant cast, Cooldown: 5 minutes. 

 

Lightning mages were very rare in the Jiama continent. Many of the players preferred Flame and Mystic spells for their damage and Ice spells for their crowd control capabilities. Lightning-type spells did not have the damage to match the former, while lacking the crowd control effectiveness of the latter. This made leveling hard for Lightning mages in the early stages of the game. But this class of mage was armed with a largest variety of spells that could slow, stun, paralyze, and even reduce the movement speed of their opponents in the latest stages of the game, and players with Lightning mage characters were highly sought after by the major guilds. 

 

Shamans on the other hand rely on their totems, and most of the Shamans’ totems were capable of dealing Lightning damage. This was why the majority of the Shaman players focused more on Lightning-type spells while using Flame-type spells and healing spells to aid them in combat. 

 

They were the largest group of consumers for equipment with Lightning attributes in the market. 

 

Unfortunately for such players, the drop rate of Lightning attributed equipment was very low, and Lighting attribute dungeons were a rare occurrence in the Jiama continent. This drove the availability of these equipment even lower for pre-lvl60 characters. Lightning attributed equipment was always in high demand, and even a piece of such equipment with slightly decent status could fetch a high price. 

 

Ye Ci knew full well that the staff she held in her hand would definitely attract the attention of Shaman players and many of the major guilds if it ever appeared on the auction house. The staff was already a very formidable item in its sealed state, and one could only imagine its destructive power when its full potential was unleashed. 

A named equipment was few and far between in the Jiama continent, and only an idiot would ever think of selling them in the auction. 

 

Ye Ci stared at the staff, then at Alaunar who was sitting at the entrance of the temple, and made the decision to reserve the staff for the boy. While the level of players was capped at 60, Alaunar was already nearing the lvl100 mark. If she was able to cultivate the Alaunar into an Elite NPC and supplement his combat capabilities with the staff, the boy would be almost invincible in combat. 

 

Humans are always driven by greed. Ye Ci immediately showed interest in Ciss’s jewelleries and clothing after obtaining the two items. She knelt beside the corpse and began groping about in an attempt to undress the now lifeless Ciss. This earned her a warning from the system, “Please respect the dead. No matter who she was in life, you are not allowed to defile her corpse.” 

 

Ye Ci rolled her eyes at the notification. I’m not defiling her! I’m just looking for items that might be useful. She’s dead anyways! It would be a waste if I leave those clothes on her! But with the verdict already made by the system, Ye Ci was forced to give up. She stood up and began walking towards the main altar of the shrine. 

 

The arrow that was illuminated by the dim candlelight gave off a very intimidating aura.  

 

Despite her spectacular haul, Ye Ci’s true goal was the arrow. It was the reason she drove Ciss to her death. She studied the altar for signs of any magical circles or seals, but found nothing protecting the arrow. The arrow was guarded closely by Ciss, and with her death, it was free for Ye Ci’s taking. Perhaps due to her overindulgence in wuxia novels, Ye Ci was a firm believer that danger lurked in the safest of places. She studied her surroundings closely for a long moment before finally reaching the conclusion that the area was safe. 

 

She took in a deep breath and reached for the arrow. She felt a stabbing pain the moment her hand came into contact with the arrow, and flames immediately flared from her ring. The flames immediately disappeared when Ye Ci placed the arrow into her inventory. 

 

There’s something odd about the arrow. 

 

Ye Ci opened up her inventory window and searched for the arrow. 

 

Tainted Arrow: This is an arrow tainted by blood. The name engraved on the tip of the arrow has faded away. There’s no way to tell who it belonged to, but one thing is certain: The arrow was fired into the chest of Sha’jia in a battle long, long time ago, wounding the demon. Why don’t you pay the Elven village a visit if you wish to find out about the origins of this arrow? Perhaps someone in the village can tell you more about it. 

 

This is the only description of the arrow. It seems that I have to take a trip back to the newbie village. 

 

Ye Ci then scoured the entire shrine and found Mark’s items in a secluded corner. 

 

Despite the NPCs apparent treachery, Ye Ci was determined to complete his quest. 

 

Ye Ci noticed Alaunar’s sulky expression as she left the shrine, “What is it? Are you angry at me?” she asked as she stood beside the boy. 

 

“No.” Alaunar’s reply was the exact opposite of his mood. It was very obvious to Ye Ci that the boy was indeed sulking. 

 

Ye Ci responded to the boy’s anger with a smile, “Fighting your enemies might not always be the wisest choice. Sometimes, you must learn their motives to eliminate them completely, am I right?” 

 

Alaunar stared at Ye Ci and spoke after a long moment of silence, “Why would Nuoba betray us? I know that he hates me, but he’s also a member of the tribe. Why would he work with these bad people, why…” 

 

Ye Ci pursed her lips in response. She was at a loss for an explanation that could make Alaunar understand that people tend to make different choices when they are faced with a choice between power and morality. She stood silently beside the boy for a long moment before finally speaking up, “Alaunar, become a hero, just like Khu’tak once did.” 

 

“Will something like this stop happening once I become a hero?” 

 

“I don’t know. But you will bring your tribe great honor by becoming a hero. Your name will forever be recorded in the tribe’s history, and perhaps…” 

 

Alaunar’s eyes immediately lit up. He walked up to Ye Ci and spoke with enthusiasm clear in his voice, “How did Khu’tak become a hero, Elf?” Ye Ci was stunned for a brief moment before she could respond, “He left his home, to where the people are. He helped them, and he saved a lot of them. This was why he was remembered and became a hero.” 

 

“That’s great!” Alaunar’s eyes were shining like two blazing stars under the setting sun, “I want to be a hero just like Khu’tak! I want to help people just like he did!”