Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 40 Under Attack

The Grandmaster Fisherman was not a normal NPC. He was entirely different from the NPCs who could be found in the game and were programmed with just one or two lines of nonsense. If Ye Ci recalled correctly, instructor NPCs were usually categorized as high grade NPCs, while Grandmaster instructor NPCs were Legendary NPCs. Only one of them would be present on any given continent.

If a Grandmaster instructor died, the system would automatically respawn one.

However, it took a a longer period of time to respawn such NPC. A total of three years time in real time.

Ye Ci dragged Johnny’s corpse into a ditch she dug out as she talked to herself, “Three years are actually quite short, they’ll pass by in the blink of an eye,” said Ye Ci. She then turned around and asked, “Ol’ Three, what say you! Let’s be more artistic, time passes quickly like a white pony’s shadow across a crevice [1], the passing of a millennium is just in the mere blink of an eye. Am I right, am I right! Even a thousand years can pass in the blink of an eye, not to mention three years!”

It was uncertain if Ol’ Three could understand Ye Ci’s words, but it was wagging its tails at her, acting all cute.

With great effort, Ye Ci threw Johnny into the ditch and covered him with soil. She then let out a long sigh.

It was definitely not in vain.

A Legendary NPC’s corpse would disappear in 18 months of real time upon its death, and an NPC with a similar tier would respawn in another 18 months. This meant that in the next 36 months, the East Continent would not have any Grandmaster Fisherman.

If any Life Players [2] wanted to learn fishing skills from a Grandmaster, she was sorry, but they could only look for one in the other four continents. And to leave the continent... Ye Ci looked up into the sky, this really had nothing to do with her!

Although she kept telling herself that, Ye Ci still fulfilled her ‘responsibility’ and buried the body. If someone was to discover the death of the Grandmaster Fisherman, and noticed that a NPC of a similar tier did not respawn, they would definitely report if to the game officials and God knows if they’d link the incident to her.

She really had nothing to do with it!

After properly burying Johnny’s body, Ye Ci picked up the fishing rod that nicked her hand earlier. It was an ordinary fishing rod. Ye Ci immediately threw it away and began surveying the small col once again. She wanted to get out of the place.

Of course, the scenery of the place was still beautiful. Birds were chirping happily and soft green grass covering the floor. If one ignored the mess that Ye Ci and the python had created with the impact of their fall, the place was still beautiful.

The trees would respawn soon anyways. Now, Ye Ci needed to get out of this place.

Ye Ci took a final glance at the col before she hurriedly left the place as if it was haunted. There was only a narrow path leading away from the col and Ye Ci reached a small wooden house after jogging down the path.

There was a sign on the door: Johnny’s House.

This Grandmaster Fisherman sure likes leaving his name everywhere! He even wrote his name on his house! Originally, she planned to leave as soon as possible but Ye Ci stopped as soon she saw the house.

That guy was a Grandmaster Fisherman, shouldn’t he have something valuable?

Ye Ci walked into Johnny’s house and began rummaging through the place. The interior of the house was simple, there was nothing of value. Ye Ci then found a row of fishing rods and a fish basket at a corner of the house.

She reached out and grabbed the closest one, and the system notification immediately chimed in, “Are you sure you want to choose this fishing rod? The fishing rod will be bound to you, and you will not be able to choose another fishing rod.”

Ye Ci immediately chose the ‘No’ option.

This was it!

The most valuable thing owned by a Grandmaster Fisherman was of course fishing rods! But there was such a big row of fishing rods, with stats that were unable to be seen, which one should she pick? Ye Ci looked from left to right, and then from right to left, but she still couldn’t make up her mind.

Some of the fishing rods were glossy, some were surrounded with silvery sparkles, while others were delicate in design. Each and every one of them looked like a good choice.

Although Ye Ci had not learned fishing skills, she would be an idiot to just pass over something free. She wanted to pick the fishing rod with the best stats. Her sight laid on a fishing rod at the end of the rack.

The fishing rod was dusty and it looked nothing out of the ordinary but Ye Ci just couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was the one for her.

“Are you sure you want to choose this fishing rod? This fishing rod will be bound to you, and you cannot choose another fishing rod.” the system notification chimed in. Ye Ci chose ‘Yes’ without hesitation.

Even if the fishing rod was not something good, it did not matter too much anyways because Ye Ci had not learned fishing skills. Besides, to have such a mediocre looking rod in the midst of all the other delicate looking ones, something was obviously off.

With the fishing rod in hand, Ye Ci could finally see its stats.

Balesan’s Precious Fishing Rod

Bound

Orange Equipment

Unique

Double Handed

Attack: 447-672, attack speed: 3.0

Can be equipped by Master Fisherman and above.

Special Attribute: Can breath under water after equipping.

Special Attribute: Increase fishing skill mastery and fishing speed by 10%.

Special Attribute: 5% increased chance to encounter rare fishes.

As expected of an orange equipment. Even if it served little use to Ye CI, its stats would drive any fishing Life Players mad.

Ye Ci was especially happy with the additional ability to breath underwater after equipping the fishing rod. However, it was a double handed rod, which meant Ye Ci could not equip any other weapons while equipping the rod. It meant she would have to sacrifice her ability to attack. Under this circumstances, Ye Ci could only visit the shallow waters, but had to stay away from the deeper areas.

Despite that, Ye Ci wanted to try the orange equipment that she had obtained. She activated her Brooch of Deceit, she wanted to disguise herself as a Master Fisherman. Unfortunately, she received a notification telling her that the Brooch of Deceit could not allow her to replicate a skill that she had not learned yet, forcing her to give up.

Ye Ci then picked up the fishing basket that was at the other corner of the house. It was a purple equipment, ‘Johnny’s Fish Basket’. It was also bound to Ye Ci. the fish basket was somewhatlike a backpack, with 48 slots for fishing related items. With 1 stack of items per slot and 99 items of the same name per stack, the fishing basket’s capacity was rather big.

Regrettably, it was only for fishing related items and could not be used as a normal backpack.

Even though she could not put the two items to good use, Ye Ci was still happy. After all, she was satisfied just by looking at the grade of those items. Ye Ci continued to ransack the house looking for anything valuable, and after confirming that she’d scrounged through the entire house, she left.

Of course, she did not forget to take down the sign hanging on the door.

Ye Ci then summoned her steed and continued her way along the narrow path.

The map was called the Desolate Lands and everywhere was barren except for the small patch of greenery that Ye Ci had left behind. Even the rays of light shining down were grim and gloomy. The place was a lvl 30 to lvl 40 leveling area, hosting the Desolate Tombs dungeons. A lot of players would be leveling up in this map in the near future.

But with the average level of players below 20 at this time and as such, not a single soul could be seen in the Desolate Lands.

Ye Ci rode along the main road, wary of the monsters spawning at both sides of the road.

Ye Ci suddenly fell from her steed, and was hit with dizziness. She was rooted to the spot and could not move. It was a situation that Ye CI was familiar with. She was under attack by a player.

“You have been attacked by an unknown player.” the system notification then chimed in. There was only one possibility when the notification hinted that a player was attacked by an unknown player. The assailant had hidden his name.

Ye Ci eyed the DEBUFF, it was Staggering Blow. The effect lasted for 6 seconds.

It was a Rogue’s skill.

But where did the Rogue came from?

It was very unlikely for players to appear in the Desolate Lands at this time, and even if there were any players, Ye Ci was not a red named player, why would the attack her?

She felt a chilly pain at her back.

Ye Ci could see her HP dropping rapidly.

6 seconds seemed short, but in this situation, it felt like a millennia for Ye Ci.

Players under the ‘Stunned’ status could not move. Ye Ci could only watch as her HP dropped. She was filled with remorse. Why did she went so fast? If only she did not dismiss Ol’ Three, then she’d not be at the mercy of her assailant.

The Rogue was fast. He cast one skill after another on Ye Ci. Bleed, Assassinate, Searing Stab, Eviscerate... Within six seconds, he had almost finished using all his main skills on Ye Ci.

What surprised him the most was that despite dealing more than hundreds of damage, the Huntress did not fall. She had also hidden her personal info, which meant that the Rogue could not see her HP bar. Why was she so hard to kill?!

In truth, Ye Ci was not that well off. If it were not for the equipment she had, she would’ve been killed instantly after receiving damage from so many of the Rogue’s skills.

When the effect of Staggering Blow was finally over, Ye Ci activated the Dash ability of her boots and dashed away...

Translator Notes:

[1] time passes quickly like a white pony’s shadow across a crevice 时间如白驹过隙

A Chinese saying describing how fast time passes

[2] Life Players

Players focusing on Life Skills