Zhan Long

Chapter 76 - An Invitation from Vanguard

Looking at Fierce Tiger’s stunned expression, I sheathed my sword and said lightly, “I am the man who is going to take away 100 gold coins from you!”

Stretching out my hand, I stared at him, “You said it yourself, the man who defeats you would get 100 gold coins as reward from you. Don’t tell me that you intend to go back on your words, hurry up and give me the money…”

Fierce Tiger’s face went dark. He probably never expected that the person who was able to defeat him would fuss so much over the 100 gold coins.

……

Around 5 seconds later, Fierce Tiger stretched his hands into his inventory and took out 100 gold coins, and threw them in my direction.

Cling!

Once I felt the heavy weight of the money reaching my hands, I was satisfied and turned around to leave.

Yet, at this moment, a man carrying a long sword stepped forth from the crowd and stretched his arms to block my way. With a smile on his face, he said, “Xiao Yao Zi Zai, I have something I would like to discuss with you!”

I looked at him. It wasn’t anyone else, but the leader of [Vanguard] — Jian Feng Han. Fushen Thousand Blade was beside him. Looked like after he lost, he went to find his leader so that they could regain back Vanguard’s reputation, yet unexpectedly, I beat him to it and defeated Fierce Tiger.

Licking my lips which were dry due to the intense heat from the [Burning Axe], I laughed, “For Guild Leader Jian Feng Han to find me, what do you want to discuss with me?”

Jian Feng Han, crossing his arm in front of his chest, said, “This isn’t a place for us to talk, come along with me…”

“Okay!”

In the Ba Huang City, there was not a single place which I dared not enter. Following Jian Feng Han, a crowd of stunned and speechless Ba Huang City gamers were left behind standing there. The fight they had just seen was exceedingly exciting, with the victor being decided in a split second!

……

Five minutes later, 3 kilometers away from Ba Huang City, we arrived at the Pear Blossom Forest. It was a peaceful area filled with the chirping of the birds and the fragrance of the flowers. Its main resources were herbs and Killer Bees. Currently, as the Killer Bees were the lowest level yet highest damaging pet, most players gathered here waiting for Killer Bees to respawn. Once a level 1 Killer Bee appeared, it means that a fortune was about to be struck. A Killer Bee with an Excellence rating above 50% was worth at least 10 gold coins.

With pears all over the ground, I followed behind Jian Feng Han. Moving forward, quite a few players appeared in the Pear Blossom Forest, most of them having the title “Vanguard” in front of their names, making it evident that they were players under the [Vanguard] guild. Jian Feng Han, carrying his long sword while laughing walked into the crowd and called out loudly, “Brothers, I have brought the guy here!”

Looking around, there were at least 200 players in the [Vanguard] guild, were they planning to surround me and get rid of me? Surely not, actually, Jian Feng Han and Fushen Thousand Blade were already sufficient to get rid of me…

Lifting my hand, pah, I grabbed onto the hilt of my sword, keng, I unsheathed my Jade City Sword and [Turmoil Sword] activated. A green ripple appears beneath my feet. I asked, “What is this…?”

Jian Feng Han turned to face me, and couldn’t help but laugh, “Brother Xiao Yao, calm down. We mean you no harm… This is only a temporary meeting place for us members of [Vanguard].”

I nodded and sheathed my blade. Looking around the map, I laughed, “Quite a few days ago, this Pear Blossom Forest was one of the hotspots of Ba Huang City and PKs often occurred while people competed for level 1 Killer Bees. Looking at the current situation, this map has already come under the control of [Vanguard], hasn’t it?”

Jian Feng Han awkwardly smiled, “Killer Bees are currently one of the best pet resources, and thus I took control of this area. Of course, I rarely expel others players from this map using force, we only use persuasion.”

“I don’t intend to poke in your business, let’s get back to the main topic. What did you want to ask me here?”

Jian Feng Han nodded, “Actually, I want to conduct business with you!”

“Oh, what kind of business?” I was a little surprised.

Hehe, Jian Feng Han laughed, spreading his hands out, said, “Actually, it is nothing much. We only would like to invite you to temporarily join our guild and help us create the first Guild!”

“Hm?”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. I leaned against one of the pear trees, crossing my arms and said, “Surely not? [Vanguard] is one of the top ten guilds of China. For something like killing bosses, I don’t think that you would require an insignificant Swordsman such as myself?”

From behind Jian Feng Han, a beautiful mage walked towards us. She had a fiery figure with two large mountains, as though threatening to burst out of her robes. She carried a gold-tier staff and on her head floated a line of words-

ID: Simple LV-38 Mage

……

I knew this woman. I once checked the records of [Vanguard] and there was always a guild vice-leader called Simple, but I didn’t expect that Simple would be a woman, and I would grade her at least 8 points!

Her real name was Murong Yun and she was Jian Feng Han’s older sister in real life, this was the only news that I knew.

I looked at her while she stared back at me, her eyes devoid of any emotions.

A few seconds later, Simple faintly laughed, “Xiao Yao Zi Zai, I know you. I have watched your battle videos several times, but I always feel as though I don’t understand you sufficiently. Just as you said, our [Vanguard] is filled with many talents and we would definitely not lack another DPS or MT (Main Tank). But Jian Feng Han and I still felt that we should try to pull you into our guild, do you know why?”

I smiled, “Why?”

“Because…” She pursed her lips, mused for a moment and then looked up at me, “The reason is quite simple. You aren’t the top healer from Ba Huang City, neither are you the best tank. Even more so, you aren’t the best damage dealer. However, you are the best combination of a healer, a tank and a damage dealer. If I didn’t guess wrongly, after you changed your job, you retained one of the skills of a healer, and furthermore it is the strongest healing technique [Heal]!”

Saying this, she nodded and faintly smiled, “We want to try to defeat gold-tier bosses that are level 50 and above, but the main problem is that our MT would be unable to cope with its damage. Even if we could continuously heal him, the healers would then attract a large amount of aggro, causing the boss to change targets and destroy our whole formation. Thus, one of the solutions we came up with is having you, Xiao Yao Zi Zai, as a tank. You are able to deal good damage and at the same time heal yourself, allowing you to pull at least 50% of the boss’s aggro onto yourself, thus reducing the aggro towards the rest of the healers. To add on, you have superb defensive abilities. In the whole Ba Huang City, there is not a single person who is more suited to be a Tank than you!”

I was relieved and losing control of myself, laughed, “So this is the case. Now that you said it, I suddenly feel that I’m more important than I thought myself to be.”

I thought for a moment, “However…”

“However what?” Jian Feng Han sounded a little nervous, as though afraid that I would reject his offer.

Thinking for a moment, I said, “I like the freedom of going solo, and dislike being subjected to other people’s restrictions and even more so, hate being used by other people.”

Simple chuckled, “Actually, that isn’t a big problem. We won’t impose any restrictions upon you and in fact, we will welcome you as a VIP in [Vanguard]. Also, for the boss’s drops, as long as you are able to use it, we are willing to give it you. All we are hoping to accomplish is to create the first Guild.”

I coughed and spoke more directly, “I will not be joining [Vanguard], this is the first point. Secondly, I refuse to do favors for free nor will I accept empty promises. So, unless we put ourselves in the relationship as an employer and an employee, I refuse to join in in your battles.”

Clang!

Fushen Thousand Blade took out his staff and angrily scolded, “Screw you, you arrogant brat! Our leader is already speaking politely to you; do you think that you are some hotshot? Still saying words like you will absolutely not join [Vanguard], what do you take our [Vanguard] for? Do you think it’s something you can join just because you want to?”

I glanced at him and laughed, “Put back your weapons, you sore loser. I don’t want to argue with you over anything. Anyways, I have already stated my position clearly, it is up to Jian Feng Han to decide whether to accept or not.”

Simple was about to open her mouth, then hesitantly shut it and turned around to look at Jian Feng Han. After all, the Guild Leader was her little brother, Jian Feng Han, and not her.

Jian Feng Han clenched his fist and after thinking for a moment, said, “Let’s do it this way, we shall follow your wishes and employ you. Every time you help us fight a boss, we will pay you a certain amount. As for the potions and other goods, we will provide them. After killing the boss, we will give you priority in choosing which equipment you want. Now, what I want to confirm is how much do you want every time you fight a boss for us?”

I laughed while raising a finger.

“1000 gold?”

“No, 1000 Yuan… I am not that bad of a person…”

Jian Feng Han clapped his hands and smiled, “Sure, 1000 Yuan per fight, I understand. However, we are still not done preparing and currently, we are collecting information on bosses. We need around 24 hours to prepare, so let’s do this, Zi Zai. I’ll give you 24 hours to level up to level 40 so that after your class promotion, you will have an additional 10% stat boost and you would be entitled to learn [Flame Blade] or whatever to boost your damage output.”

I nodded my head, “Yes, I understand.”

……

Turning around, I left the Pear Blossom Forest.

Standing at the borders of Ba Huang City, I felt a little conflicted. Being employed for 1000 Yuan each battle, it should have been a good thing but why did I feel uneasy? Forget it, it was the fault of the 100 gold coins. If I didn’t challenge Fierce Tiger, Jian Feng Han also wouldn’t know about my defensive capabilities and my offensive capabilities and naturally, he also wouldn’t invite me. However, what was done was done; I would just help them fight the bosses. Anyway, this wasn’t anything bad to me.

Ding!

There was a message coming from the charming assassin Ling Wan Er, “Li Xiao Yao, are you joining [Vanguard]?”

I was shocked, “Why? Wan Er how did you know about this, who said it?”

“Hehe, Jian Feng Han just posted a Heroes’ Notice on China’s server platform, saying [Vanguard] is currently preparing to challenge bosses that were level 50 and above and had invited the supposedly strongest Healer, Xiao Yao Zi Zai to join the alliance…”

“Oh…” I tried to explain, “I was only helping him to fight the bosses, I didn’t agree to join [Vanguard].”

Ling Wan Er giggled, “Okay, I am not concerned on whether you choose to join [Vanguard] or not, my only concerned is that Dong Cheng and I are hungry now. Come, treat us to supper?”

“Okay, wait for me downstairs!”

“Okay…”