Chapter 54 - White Cherry
There was a cemetery in Gong Liang City, currently serving as a burial ground for many who had died during a war once fought there. There were many tombstones there, which was why it was now popularly known as a cemetery.
The snowy day was already rather gloomy. One would feel a little crackling pain when the chilly wind brushed past against their naked skin. Combined with the sinister aura that lingered in the cemetery and the dirty tombstones, this cemetery was indeed a place that wasn’t well-liked. More accurately speaking, it was a place that left one frightened.
Even so, there were those who were willing to come to this sinister and terrifying place.
White Cherry couldn’t help it but stay close to Blue Maple after she observed her surroundings. Blue Maple didn’t react at all. Both of them came here after they left Gong Liang City. It was a little weird. Clearly, Blue Maple didn’t want anyone to follow him, but he didn’t oppose White Cherry following him.
It seemed like White Cherry was following Blue Maple for no reason after he helped her get rid of some troublesome people that were bothering her. It didn’t seem like she was following him because she liked him, or was curious about him.
“That, can I ask your name?” White Cherry asked carefully as she got closer to Blue Maple. Blue Maple was completely silent before and appeared to be rushing. White Cherry didn’t feel like it was good for her to ask him questions, which was why she remained silent too. Now that their surroundings appeared very sinister, White Cherry mustered her courage to talk to Blue Maple. It was mainly because she was afraid.
However, Blue Maple didn’t answer. He continued to scan his surroundings.
“Then…”
“I’m called Blue Maple in this world.” Just as White Cherry was about to ask another question, Blue Maple interrupted her as he walked. He answered her previous question, but his answer was a little weird.
White Cherry was a little frantic as she responded, “Oh, I, I’m called White Cherry… Master Blue Maple, please, please take care of me!”
Blue Maple suddenly stopped in place. He slowly turned around. It was only then that Blue Maple managed to get a closer look at White Cherry. It was also her first time facing Blue Maple directly.
White Cherry had a very classic beauty of an Asian woman. Her facial features were exquisite, and she had a fair, sculpted face. Her almond eyes had a special beautiful look to them. Her hair was smooth, bright, and long. As for her figure, it was practically perfect. It was flawless. More accurately speaking, she was flawless, a natural beauty. Along with a clean priestess’ robe, she had a perfect, holy image about her right now. No wonder there were people fighting to be on her team.
Blue Maple maintained his tall, cool, handsome guy image. It was just that his fringe was covering his left eye. Perhaps one could actually keep long hair in the game...
“You don’t have to call me Master. I’m not Japanese.” After he finished speaking, he wasn’t concerned about her response. He immediately revealed his quest status and shared it.
Ding! Announcement: Player Blue Maple wants to share his Desolate Cemetery, an SSS-ranked quest. Do you accept?
After hearing Blue Maple’s response followed by the announcement, White Cherry was stunned for a moment. She didn’t react immediately.
“This...”
“Just stand to one side.” Blue Maple’s intentions were very clear. He meant that she didn’t need to worry about the quest difficulty. She just needed to stay with him and just exploit him to gain XP. Blue Maple also didn’t count on White Cherry helping him. Did he need her to replenish his HP? No, unless the quest was like that impossible quest the old man designed for him; that Snow Wolf King was simply too dominating. As for her helping him cause damage, it was unnecessary. Blue Maple’s weakest attack probably caused more damage than her strongest attack...
White Cherry was a little worried as she asked, “But, but wouldn’t that slow you down in your leveling-up?”
“It’s fine.” Leveling up? Would he even care about something like that?
“But...” White Cherry wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Blue Maple.
“Stop wasting time,” Blue Maple said.
White Cherry had yet to accept. Instead, she pondered for a moment.
“No way. You’ve already helped me. I cannot be too indebted to you anymore.” White Cherry was a little persistent this time. She appeared much different from her previous, frantic self.
“Is that...” Blue Maple continued to walk forward.
“Take it as a form of compensation.” Blue Maple continued to walk forward. He didn’t seem to care what decision she made.
White Cherry bit on her lips as she stood there. Eventually, she accepted the quest…
---
White Cherry followed behind Blue Maple, and they reverted to their original formation: one person forward and one person behind.
“Here’s something for you,” Blue Maple suddenly said as he walked along.
“What?” Just as White Cherry was puzzled, Blue Maple tossed a small vial used to store pills to White Cherry.
“Eh eh...” White Cherry didn’t catch it instantly. The vial juggled a few times in her hands.
“What is this?” White Cherry was a little puzzled as she looked at the vial. She took a look at its status.
[Yang Qi Pill] After consuming this pill, you are immune to the corrosion of Yin Qi for one hour. (The Yin Qi from death is too strong. It will affect the attributes of a player.)
“Master Blue Maple, ah! I’m sorry. Blue Maple, what are you going to do if you give everything to me?” Blue Maple had only just asked White Cherry not to call him Master, but it was already habitual to her.
“Do you think I need it?” Blue Maple continued to venture forward, not turning around.
“This...” White Cherry was a little stunned. When she thought about how Blue Maple controlled the terrifying blue fire earlier, she asked herself, Why would he be afraid of ordinary Yin Qi?
“Also, stop apologizing or thanking me. I’m not Japanese.” Blue Maple turned around and reminded her. Japanese was always very formal. Although it was a nice habit to have, Blue Maple found it a little annoying.
“Oh, okay...” White Cherry answered in a steady manner. However, Blue Maple didn’t count too much on her changing her habits. White Cherry probably knew it too, which was why she responded like that.
After a brief moment, Blue Maple and White Cherry discovered their first target after they ventured deeper into the cemetery.
===
[Rotten Jiangshi] Rank 50
Attack: 421-574
Defense: 403-548
Magic Defense: 234-301
HP：3800
Skills: Decay, Devour, Gnaw
Summary: The Yang Qi is too strong, causing the corpses to turn into jiangshi. These jiangshi have a very strong desire to attack. Their attack and defense are decent, but they are a little clumsy.
===
It doesn’t have many Skills. But that’s a good thing..., Blue Maple thought to himself.
Blue Maple’s quest requirements were:
[Desolate Cemetery] Kill any 500 jiangshi and 500 skeletons. Exterminate the Jiangshi King.
Blue Maple would need at least 200 minutes, even if he killed 5 every minute. That was without including the Jiangshi King. However, this was an SSS-ranked quest for ordinary players. It wasn’t that difficult for him.
As for why the quest remained SSS-ranked even though there were two people doing it for now, the system must have probably judged that White Cherry was indeed not of much help to Blue Maple. Blue Maple was basically the one that was going to do everything.
Blue Maple sent a streak of Heavenly Fire over to test waters.
Peng! The Heavenly Fire dissipated after it struck the jiangshi. The damage was rather minimal.
-234!
Its defense is a little on the high side…, Blue Maple thought, but he wasn’t too bothered.
“Ao!” The jiangshi let out an annoying sound after it was attacked by the Heavenly Fire. After that, it charged towards Blue Maple. However, it wasn’t quick. It was clumsy, just like the summary mentioned.
Blue Maple fancied monsters that possessed strong attacks and defenses, but were low in agility. It was easy for him to dodge their attacks.
Blue Maple continued to accumulate power for his Sweeping Sword Slash and waited for the jiangshi to charge over. He was very relaxed, because the jiangshi was very slow.
“Ao!” The jiangshi leapt over when it was close enough to Blue Maple, and used its Gnaw.
Blue Maple easily dodged to one side. He slashed the jiangshi’s neck with his fully-charged Sweeping Sword Slash. He didn’t even care whether it was the jiangshi’s weak spot.
-659, -431, -288, -142!
He followed it up with a spinning kick and kicked the jiangshi to one side.
-462, -225, -298!
“Oh?”
There was some extra damage done, caused by White Cherry in the distance.
“Do Priests have attacking skills too?” Blue Maple wondered, a little confused. In fact, Priests did possess a Judgement attacking Skill. It was still effective against creatures like jiangshi. It was just that Blue Maple wasn’t too concerned about Priests when he read about the game. More accurately speaking, he hadn’t read anything about those from magic classes...
“My damage is still a little low. It’s clearly too low.” White Cherry was a little regretful as she muttered to herself.
A Judgement Skill caused 200% damage to evil creatures like jiangshi. Along with the slightly weaker magic defense that jiangshi possessed, White Cherry should have been able to cause some significant damage. However, her magical abilities were still too weak, and her basic damage was still insufficient. The jiangshi’s rank was very high compared to her, and the rank difference was too significant. After all, she wasn’t from a Hidden Class, and couldn’t bridge that gap.
===
[White Cherry] (Level 32 Priest)
Magic Strength: 527-672 Luck: 0
Defense: 257-335 Reputation: 330
Magic Defense: 267-346
Strength: 78 Honor: 0
Agility: 75 Evil: 0
Endurance: 64 Survivability: 50
Magic: 546 Hunger: 95%
Toughness: 49
HP：1268
MP：786
===
Her attributes were a little weak...
However, Blue Maple wasn’t counting on her to help him much. He continued to slay the jiangshi on his own. White Cherry discovered that she was useless apart from using her Judgement Skill.
A Priest who had undergone the second transformation had six Skills. Three involved replenishing HP, one was for cleansing, one was a Judgement attacking skill, and the last was healing therapy for injuries.
Among the Skills that involved replenishing HP, one was for a single entity, one was for continuous replenishment of HP, and the last was for a small group. White Cherry didn’t even need to use one....
Blue Maple dealt with the jiangshi very quickly, who left behind some coins.
He didn’t say anything else and continued to venture deeper into the cemetery. White Cherry followed him.
White Cherry discovered something else she was useful for after a series of slayings, which was picking up the dropped items. Blue Maple was simply too lazy to pick them up. Whether it was coins or gear, he just left them there. He wasn’t very concerned about them since they didn’t have any practical use to him.
While White Cherry thought it was a pity, she also gave herself an excused. At least she wasn’t just using her attacking skill to help!
Blue Maple didn’t say anything, and let White Cherry pick up the items. As for whether she would return them to him later, he didn’t care at all. It could be said that those were items that he had forsaken.
In fact, those players who passed by after Blue Maple managed to kill monsters were fortunate. They often managed to pick up some good stuff. To some extent, Blue Maple was a wastrel...