Chapter 129: Announcement Flood

Watching the experience bar climb at a glacial pace, Zhang Shan and Boss Wu hacked away at monsters with all their might. They were getting closer and closer to reaching level thirty.

"Once you hit level thirty, are we staying here to grind, or should we look for a new map?" Boss Wu asked.

"Let's wait until I hit thirty before deciding. I'm not sure where the best spot is yet, but I’ve already obtained the Army Ant passive, so we probably won't be staying here much longer."

It had taken a massive amount of effort to grind out the Ant Strength passive, and Zhang Shan hadn't yet decided which passive skill he wanted to farm next. There weren't many monsters with passive skills, and he had been looking for a monster with a lifesteal passive for a while. Now that he had the Purple-Gold Necklace, he had a small lifesteal percentage—only three percent—but it was enough for the time being. The need for a lifesteal passive wasn't urgent, and more importantly, he hadn't yet found a monster that possessed one. He had been keeping a close eye on monster information on the forums; he’d seen all sorts of bizarre passive skills, but a lifesteal passive had yet to be discovered.

Currently, Zhang Shan already possessed two attack-boosting passives: the Rabbit's Granted Strength and the Army Ant's Ant Strength. He also had two critical-hit related effects: the Wild Wolf Talent and the Wild Boar King's Heavy Strike. He had even managed to grind out an attack-speed passive while farming the Half-Axis dungeon with the big shots from the Fengyun Guild. His luck had been off the charts.

It seemed Zhang Shan lacked nothing and was strong in every aspect. If he had to point out a weakness, it would be his relatively low HP. It was the inherent flaw of a squishy class, and it was hard to achieve a qualitative change. Although his purple cape was top-tier—perhaps even one of the best in the entire game—the Priest's Cape was, after all, only a level twenty piece of equipment. Once he reached level thirty, it would start to show its age. While it wouldn't be completely obsolete, it would no longer allow him to be as tanky as a strength-based class, as he had been previously, with nearly double the HP of other squishy classes. That advantage would vanish once everyone hit level thirty, as level thirty capes would provide significantly more HP. Even a level thirty blue cape wouldn't be much worse than his Priest's Cape.

He wondered if there were any passives that increased maximum HP. It would be great if he could farm a few of those. Of course, it was just a passing thought; he hadn't found any monsters with HP-boosting passives yet, and even if they existed, they would surely be difficult to farm. If the monsters had double the HP, their grinding speed would slow down, hurting their leveling efficiency.

Better to hit level thirty first and then decide where to go. Or, he could just spend a few days hunting bosses. Although bosses weren't easy to find, if he dedicated himself to the search, he’d have a chance of finding a few. But that raised a question: why hadn't they seen a single boss while grinding in the ant map for so long? It didn't make sense. Forget red bosses; they hadn't even seen an orange one. Surely a map this large couldn't be devoid of bosses.

"Why haven't we seen a single boss after grinding here for so long?" Zhang Shan couldn't help but complain.

"I don't know. Maybe we haven't covered enough ground. If you think about it, even though we've been here a long time, we've stayed in this one corner. We haven't even touched ninety percent of the map."

"True. Once I level up, I'll hunt down the boss here. I haven't heard of anyone taking down a level forty ant-type boss yet. I have to find it."

"Just the two of us? Even if we find a major boss, we won't be able to take it down."

"Don't worry about that. Let's find it first. If we can't kill it, we'll just call for backup."

After taking down another Army Ant, a white light washed over Zhang Shan. He had finally reached level thirty. Damn, that was hard.

System Announcement: Congratulations to Six-Pipe Bodhisattva for being the first to reach level thirty. Reward: +1 Skill Point, +100 Merit, and one Red Hare Summoning Token.

System Announcement: With a player reaching level thirty, the Mount System is now open. Players who have reached level thirty may purchase Horse Tokens from the Minister of the Imperial Stud in the Royal City.

System Announcement: With a player reaching level thirty, the public map, Heaven's Gate Pass, is now open to all players. Players may travel to Heaven's Gate Pass via teleportation portals.

System Announcement: The Nation War system is now active. Once the level of hostility between players of two nations reaches a certain threshold, a Nation War will commence.

System Announcement: Due to the rising strength of the human race, the Demon army can no longer breach human cities. The Monster Siege event will be revised. Please check the official website for details.

As Zhang Shan hit level thirty, the barrage of announcements left all players stunned. The amount of information was overwhelming.

World Channel:
"What the hell? What's with the spam? I only noticed the Mount System. I need to get myself a mount!"
"Wake up, bro. You need to be level thirty to buy a horse from the Minister of the Imperial Stud. Are you high enough level?"
"Damn, so that means only Six-Pipe can ride a horse right now, and the rest of us are still stuck on our own two feet?"
"Envious of Six-Pipe for having a horse. I need to grind harder so I can buy a mount soon."
"Let's grind hard so we can join the ranks of the mounted!"
"Forget it. I'm only level twenty-eight, and it takes twenty-five million EXP just to get to twenty-nine, let alone thirty. It's hopeless."
"Damn, don't be such a buzzkill. You just killed my motivation to grind."
"Stop focusing on the mounts and look at the other announcements! What does 'public map' mean? Does it mean players from all nations are in the same map?"
"I think so. Any brave souls who have already teleported there? Tell us what it's like. I'm still out grinding, not in the city."
"I'm at Heaven's Gate Pass. Players from all seven nations are here. I see players from other nations with purple names; I really want to take a swing at them, but it's a safe zone. Can't attack yet. I'll wait until I run outside the gates."
"Holy crap, everyone in one map? That's way too dangerous. Attacking players from different nations won't turn you red-named, only build up hostility? This is going to be chaos."
"Whatever, I'm heading to Heaven's Gate. Finally, I can kill people without restraint. Before, killing people made me red-named and landed me in the 'dark room.' So frustrating."
"Haha, you scrubs! Liu Sandao of the Qin Nation has arrived. Tremble in fear!"