Chapter Sixty-Four: The Second Spiritual Artifact

The others who had come with Zhang Shan had all returned to Dangyang City, leaving only Zhang Shan and Heart Moves with My Heart still on the Mass Grave map.

“Brother Heart, why don’t we team up to farm monsters? It’s always good to have someone to watch your back.”

“Sure, let’s farm here for now. We’re not too far from the city. If the members of the Heaven and Earth Guild come out, you can intercept them in time.”

“That’s what I was thinking too.”

“There are two kinds of monsters in the Mass Grave. One is the physical type, level twenty skeleton soldiers; the other is the magic type, level twenty-five wandering souls. Which would you prefer to farm?”

Heart Moves with My Heart was very familiar with the Mass Grave map. His conflict with the Heaven and Earth Guild had started here—he was farming monsters when their members tried to clear him out, sparking the feud.

To Zhang Shan, there was little difference between level twenty and twenty-five monsters. Both were the kind he couldn’t kill in a single shot, but two shots would result in a bit of overkill. They weren’t particularly suited to his leveling, but that wasn’t his main purpose for being here. He mostly wanted to keep an eye out for Heaven and Earth Guild members for a while longer; leveling was just a side benefit—the convenience of the location was what mattered.

“Which do you want to farm? Do you have trouble with the level twenty-five magic monsters?”

Since there wasn’t much difference, Zhang Shan naturally preferred to farm the higher-level ones, since they gave more experience. He just wasn’t sure if Heart Moves with My Heart, being a melee magic swordsman, would find the magic monsters troublesome.

“No problem. The wandering souls are actually easier for us—they have low defense. Sometimes I can kill one in two swings.”

“That can’t be right. Level twenty-five monsters should have nearly five thousand HP. How could you kill one in two hits? Do you have some overpowered skill?”

Zhang Shan was puzzled. Even for a monster with five thousand HP, it took him two shots, and Heart Moves with My Heart claimed he could do it in two strikes as well. That was odd—Zhang Shan had a divine artifact, making his attack much higher than ordinary players. Heart Moves with My Heart didn’t have one, and according to the equipment rankings, aside from Zhang Shan’s hand cannon, the best gear anyone had was still red-grade. No spirit-grade equipment had appeared yet. Could it be that Heart Moves with My Heart had some incredibly powerful skill? But judging from the previous melee, he hadn’t seen anything unusual.

“I have a special item that increases a magic swordsman’s attack power by fifty percent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be leveling so fast.”

As he spoke, Heart Moves with My Heart displayed a special item.

Sword Spirit: Special item, bound to the player Heart Moves with My Heart. Increases sword-type attack power by fifty percent. Durability: never wears out.

Upon seeing Sword Spirit’s attributes, Zhang Shan was truly shocked. He had always thought there was only one spirit-grade item in the entire game so far—his own Hand of Midas.

He hadn’t expected to see a second one so soon.

And in terms of practical use, Sword Spirit might even be better than his Hand of Midas. Although both increased stats by fifty percent, Sword Spirit boosted attack power, while his increased attack speed. In theory, the overall output would be similar, but when facing tougher targets, having higher attack power was much more beneficial.

“Brother Heart, your Sword Spirit item is insane! How did you get it?”

Zhang Shan was curious—it couldn’t have dropped from ordinary monsters, could it? His Hand of Midas had been given by Master Lu; that kind of opportunity was unlikely to happen again. He wondered if Heart Moves with My Heart’s method of acquisition could be replicated by other players.

“I got it when I left the newbie village. The village chief gave it to me out of the blue. I didn’t do any quest; he just handed it over.”

“What? That’s possible? Why would the village chief just give you something?”

Zhang Shan was a bit envious. Though he had an even better divine artifact, he’d first gotten a quest item and then had to go through all sorts of trouble to obtain it. Heart Moves with My Heart had simply been gifted such a great item by the village chief for free—it was unbelievable.

“I don’t know why either. The village chief said I was gifted, and then gave me this Sword Spirit, saying it would help me grow faster.”

“You’re incredible.”

Zhang Shan was speechless. So the familiar trope of “unique bones, extraordinary talent” actually appeared in the game.

As they chatted, they started moving. Before long, they found a large group of wandering souls.

Upon spotting the monsters, Zhang Shan summoned his panda pet and started farming without hesitation. There was no need to check their stats first; for him, level twenty-five monsters of any type were easy prey. He’d been farming level thirty wild wolves for days—these would be even less trouble.

These wandering souls really were, as Heart Moves with My Heart said, easy to handle. Their defense was low—every one of Zhang Shan’s attacks dealt over 3,500 damage. Even Heart Moves with My Heart could deal more than 2,000 per hit, no wonder he claimed he could kill one in two strikes.

Zhang Shan checked the wandering soul’s stats.

Wandering Soul: Level 25, HP 4600, Attack Power 780, Skill: Magic Resistance (Passive).

Magic Resistance: Increases magical resistance, reducing magic damage taken.

Another monster with the magic resistance passive. When he’d farmed demonfolk before, he’d never managed to get this passive to drop. Maybe this time he’d have a chance. Zhang Shan planned to stay in Yingtian City today, keeping an eye on the Heaven and Earth Guild, and would farm monsters on the side—who knows, he might get another passive skill.

The wandering souls gave a bit less experience than wild wolves, but because they were easier and quicker to kill, his leveling efficiency was about the same.

As for Heart Moves with My Heart, though he could kill a wandering soul in two hits, his attack speed was noticeably slower than Zhang Shan’s. Plus, as a melee fighter, he had to run around to engage monsters, so his kill rate was almost half as fast as Zhang Shan’s. Teaming up with him did lower Zhang Shan’s leveling speed a bit. But it didn’t matter—no matter who he teamed up with, nobody could match his solo leveling efficiency. Besides, he was relying on Heart Moves with My Heart to report back on the Heaven and Earth Guild’s movements.

“Haven’t the Heaven and Earth Guild folks left the city yet? It’s been over ten minutes. Are they really too intimidated to come out today?”

That seemed unlikely. If they were discussing a strategy, enough time had passed for them to have finished. There was no reason they should still be holed up in the city.

“They should be coming out any minute. All two hundred of them are gathered at the city gate; looks like they’re planning to move out as a group.”

“That’s more like it. Stormblade and the others left ages ago. The Heaven and Earth Guild should’ve gotten word of that by now. If they’re still afraid to come out, that’d be pretty embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry. They probably sent out thieves to scout ahead. Once they confirm you guys aren’t around, they’ll come out.”

“Heh, we won’t be spotted by their scouts while we’re farming monsters here, will we?”

“We’re far enough—they wouldn’t scout this far.”

“That’s good. I hope they come to the Mass Grave to farm. Then I’ll give them a nice surprise.”