Chapter Forty-Five: Speculations from All Sides
Taking off the gaming helmet, Zhang Shan didn’t feel fatigued at all, though his expression was a little dazed. The progress of technology was fully evident in gaming equipment; after nearly thirty hours of online play, he didn’t experience any physical discomfort. Astonishing, really.
Still, he resolved to adjust his biological clock in the future and not push himself so hard. After all, he was now a millionaire. Yes, the money transferred by his assistant had arrived—ten million, no less. The world of the wealthy was indeed beyond his comprehension.
He’d always heard about rare items in games selling for astronomical prices. But unless one experienced it firsthand, it felt as unreal as seeing lottery winners on the news. After showering, he went downstairs for a meal—it wouldn’t do for a man of means to always eat dry rations.
After dinner, he hurried back to sleep, knowing there would be an event in the evening. Even though it was still broad daylight, Zhang Shan quickly drifted into dreamland.
He dreamed of himself conquering the New World, driving the Heaven and Earth Guild out of Dangyang City, and leading other guild leaders to claim the first guild throne. He also dreamt of single-handedly defeating the Demon God, easily toppling the seemingly invincible super boss—gameplay so simple and joyful.
The alarm shattered Zhang Shan’s sweet dreams. He opened his eyes to see that dusk had already fallen outside.
Damn, good thing he’d set the alarm; otherwise he would have missed the Monster Siege event. He immediately got up, washed, grabbed a quick bite of dry rations, and was back online in less than five minutes.
It was now a little past 7:30 p.m., about twenty minutes until the Monster Siege event began at eight. Dangyang City was already teeming with players; everywhere he looked, the city was crowded as if every player had returned, none still out grinding monsters.
“Damn, big boss, you’re finally up! I was about to call you,” Thousand Mile Solo called out when he saw Zhang Shan log in.
“Why are there so many people in the city? The event hasn’t started yet, has it?”
“Go check the event announcement. Once Monster Siege begins, you can’t teleport anymore. Of course everyone has to return to the city in advance.”
“I’ll go check the event announcement first. Where are we meeting?”
“At the guild base. After you’ve read the announcement and sorted your gear and supplies, come over quickly. We’ll sign up to defend the city together. There’s a signup on the forum.”
Hmm? Signup required? Never mind, he’d find out after reading the announcement.
Entering the forum, Zhang Shan didn’t check the announcement right away. Instead, he found the video post he’d uploaded before sleeping. Heh, almost a million views already.
He’d set it to paid mode; each view cost ten copper coins. But with a million views, that was a thousand gold coins—a nice little profit. Ten copper coins was nothing now; even casually fighting monsters yielded dozens of copper coins, enough to view several paid posts. No one would mind.
If a post was hot or eye-catching, small profits accumulated into something substantial. Clearly, he needed to develop more ideas like this. After all, he was now a celebrity in the New World, drawing attention was easy—as long as the content was worthwhile, there would always be viewers.
The comments below the post were endless, and Zhang Shan read them with delight.
“There really is such a badass item? I owe Artifact Brother an apology for doubting him,” said King Carefree, who’d questioned Zhang Shan in the world channel, grabbing the top comment.
“Yeah, such a powerful item—can silence for five minutes! That’s incredible. If you use it against a mage in PvP, they’d be so devastated they might want to quit.”
“How could such an item be used for PvP? It’s strategic-level. Artifact Brother used it for a boss—seems like a waste. It’ll be even more useful in the future.”
“Agreed. This thing is basically an artifact, absolutely one-of-a-kind. Getting another one is unlikely, isn’t it?”
“There’ll always be someone who gets one. Artifact Brother managed to drop one, others could too. With so many players, someone will find it.”
“If that’s the case, what about artifacts? We haven’t seen a second one yet.”
“You’re just nitpicking. Artifacts aren’t the same.”
“Who knows, maybe soon artifacts won’t be so rare. Anything’s possible.”
“Keep dreaming. Someone who’s never even seen a red item dares say artifacts aren’t rare—where does that confidence come from?”
“There’ve definitely been plenty of red items already, we just haven’t seen them. The Storm Guild has taken down red bosses twice—they must have gotten red equipment.”
“Then why isn’t it on the equipment rankings?”
“Equipment rankings only show gear players are actually wearing. If they can’t equip it, it doesn’t show up. Level twenty bosses drop level twenty gear, but since they can’t equip it yet, it’s not ranked.”
“Artifact Brother can equip it though—he’s already level twenty.”
“Artifact Brother is a monster; I’m only level thirteen and he’s already twenty. That’s outrageous.”
“Yeah, way too much.”
“Have you considered that the Monster Siege event unlocks at level twenty? Doesn’t that mean monsters start at level twenty? Isn’t that bad news for us?”
“Most likely. Artifact Brother has pulled far ahead of us, increasing our difficulty.”
“Don’t get off topic. Let’s talk about how Artifact Brother killed the boss. Maybe we can learn something.”
“What’s there to say? One scroll and killing the boss was easier than killing a chicken. Nothing to discuss if you don’t have a Silence Scroll.”
“You missed the point. Before using the scroll, the boss had already lost over three hundred thousand HP. How did he manage that?”
“Damn, I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out. That scroll totally distracted me.”
“Maybe Artifact Brother kited the boss, whittling down over three hundred thousand HP?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Even purple bosses can’t be kited, let alone a red boss. You know how fast those bosses run, right?”
“So how did he take down so much of the boss’s HP?”
“Yeah, there’s no way he could tank it. His pet dies in one hit, let alone him—just a glass cannon.”
“Maybe Artifact Brother has a super cool cloak, one that adds tens of thousands of HP?”
“Don’t be silly. He was only level ten or so then, at most could wear level fifteen gear. What cloak at fifteen adds tens of thousands of HP?”
“Exactly. Even with more HP, it wouldn’t help. No support to heal him—no way he could tank a boss.”
“It must’ve been kiting, but how did he do it?”
“Look, the boss spawned on the altar and is called Priest. Maybe the boss never leaves the altar, so Artifact Brother could kite back and forth, whittling its HP.”
“Ridiculous. That’s like saying the principal never leaves the school.”
“Who knows? Anything’s possible in games.”
“Isn’t this boss in the dungeon too? Those who’ve tried it should know—does the boss leave the altar?”
“The dungeon boss not only leaves the altar, it hunts all players in the dungeon, chasing them to the ends of the earth.”
“Maybe the wild boss works differently from the dungeon boss?”
“Artifact Brother is too much—he cut out the most crucial part, refusing to show us. Bad review.”
“Yeah, unfair. But even if we saw it, it wouldn’t help. Once the boss is killed, it’s gone. Only dungeon bosses remain, and their mechanics are probably different.”
“True. Dungeons have difficulty modes, especially Hard and Extreme. Wild bosses can’t compare—dungeon ones are way tougher.”
“Speaking of dungeons, has any other team cleared one?”
“Dream on. Clearing dungeons? Even normal mode, clearing mobs is exhausting, let alone gatekeeper bosses that can one-shot players. You’d need to be level twenty to clear it.”
“How did Storm Guild clear it then?”
“Maybe they had a second item?”
“No way.”
“Has anyone tried to find out? Aren’t you big shots all familiar with each other? Ask around.”
“Someone probably did, but that’s commercial secrecy. They’d never share it here, haha.”
Zhang Shan enjoyed reading all these comments. Let them guess as much as they want—there was no longer a wild boss out there, and even if they guessed right, there’d be no reward.