110: Chapter 110 The Nine-Ring Spell is Before Your Eyes, Should You Use It or Not?

The next day was the third morning of this dungeon run.

The three of them took out the remaining morning tea snacks from their inventories: shrimp dumplings, siu mai, egg tarts, and a few boxes of warm milk tea. Along with milk, they had a simple meal. After finishing, they threw the wrappers into the fireplace to burn, reorganized their gear, and continued to explore the north side of Lakeside Town.

Less than a hundred meters after leaving the north side of the town, Hu Jinsi stopped in his tracks.

In the middle of the road, a Blackrock Orc clad in heavy armor rode atop a massive black Dire Wolf, slowly approaching. The beast was panting with its tongue lolling out, nostrils puffing out foul-smelling hot air, sniffing the air vigilantly. The Dire Wolf stood over 1.5 meters at the shoulder, all four paws on the ground, its black fur gleaming with an oily sheen in the morning light. Its fangs protruded from the corners of its mouth like two curved daggers.

Seeing that there was only one enemy, Hu Jinsi couldn't help but try to liven up the atmosphere even in this tense situation. "I wasn't envious at all when the enemies rode motorcycles in [Double Dragon III] last time. But this time, now that this orc is riding a Dire Wolf, I'm actually a little envious."

"Stop being envious for a second." Lin Rui raised his shield. "It has spotted us."

The Dire Wolf's ears perked up, and a low growl rumbled in its throat. The orc wolf rider on its back raised an arm, a capture net already gripped in its palm. But before the three of them could move, the Dire Wolf suddenly lifted its head and let out a sharp, long howl.

The howling echoed through the mountain path. Behind a boulder nearby, two gray figures darted out. Two Blackrock Renegades, wielding short swords and wooden shields, jumped from their ambush point into the battlefield.

Three against two turned into three against four; the situation shifted from us having the advantage to the enemy having the advantage in an instant.

"That's not very honorable." Hu Jinsi clicked his tongue. "Since the other side doesn't care about martial ethics first, we don't have any psychological burden in fighting them either. Su Wan!"

Su Wan already understood his meaning. She took two steps back, hiding behind a rock, and the [sirens voice collar] around her neck began to heat up. She took a deep breath, and a string of low, melodious syllables flowed from her throat. The vibration of the sound waves resonated with the brilliance of magic, floating toward the Blackrock Renegade that had jumped out from behind the boulder.

[Crown of Madness].

One of the Blackrock Renegades had just rushed out a few steps when its movements stiffened simultaneously. It shook its head, its fangs chattering as if resisting something. Then it turned abruptly and swung its sword at its companion beside it. The one that was struck was stunned for a moment, let out a roar, raised its wooden shield with its backhand, and smashed it heavily into the other's face. The two Blackrock Orcs instantly tangled together, short swords and wooden shields clashing with dull clanging sounds.

Taking advantage of this opening, Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui allocated their targets.

"I'll go take care of the Dire Wolf," Hu Jinsi said. "Beat it until it can't howl. Lin Rui, you hold off that wolf rider."

"Got it."

The two of them rushed out simultaneously. Hu Jinsi used [Chi Torpedo] and lunged straight at the Dire Wolf. Lin Rui raised his shield and activated [Charge], his entire body like a heavy tank, slamming into the orc wolf rider who had jumped off the Dire Wolf's back.

Seeing Hu Jinsi rushing over, the Dire Wolf let out a low growl, pawed at the ground, and prepared to pounce. Hu Jinsi wanted exactly that—the Dire Wolf's face. With a dodge, the iron-wood staff in his hand, wrapped in iron, struck like a venomous snake, stabbing straight at the tip of the Dire Wolf's nose.

The Dire Wolf tilted its head, and the tip of the staff grazed the side of its nose, taking off a tuft of black fur. It yelped in pain, lowered its head, and exposed an even bigger opening.

Hu Jinsi seized the opportunity, flicked the head of the staff, and stabbed it fiercely onto the Dire Wolf's snout. The Dire Wolf's mouth was jammed shut, and foul-smelling drool dripped down along its fangs.

It wanted to retreat, but Hu Jinsi pressed on, the head of the staff continuously poking between its nose and eye sockets. Every poke used nine-tenths of his strength. The Dire Wolf was beaten into bowing its head repeatedly, unable to let out that howl to summon its companions, and could only emit a series of whimpers to call for its rider.

On the other side, Lin Rui and the orc wolf rider had already collided. After jumping off the Dire Wolf's back, the wolf rider landed in heavy armor, holding a short-handled battle axe.

Lin Rui's shield slammed into it, producing a dull boom, but the opponent only took half a step back, steadied itself, and backhanded an axe strike onto Lin Rui's shield. Sparks from the metal collision flew everywhere.

Both were heavy armor classes. Lin Rui's 20 points of Strength, combined with the weight of his full heavy armor and shield, had enough impact power to knock an ordinary enemy flying.

But this wolf rider's armor was thicker than the Renegades', and there was a curved horn on its helmet. Its strength was only a sliver weaker than Lin Rui's. Every time the battle axe came down, Lin Rui had to use his shield to [Block] with all his might, his arm going numb from the shock.

Lin Rui began to alternate between [Charge] and [Tactical Roll]. When charging, he would hit the opponent's center of gravity, forcing it to retreat; when rolling, he would dodge the axe's strikes and smash the edge of his shield into its knee joint from the side.

Both were the thick-skinned and fleshy type; for a time, neither could do anything to the other. The sound of shields and battle axes colliding echoed on the mountain path, like two iron pots knocking against each other.

On the Dire Wolf side, Hu Jinsi had already gained the absolute upper hand. The Dire Wolf had been beaten black and blue, a large lump swollen beside its eye socket, its black fur stained with blood and drool.

It finally stopped retreating and instead let out a shrill howl, kicked off with all four paws, and lunged at Hu Jinsi. Its huge body spread out in the air like a black cloud, its fangs aiming straight for Hu Jinsi's throat.

This was exactly what Hu Jinsi was waiting for. He ducked, sidestepped, and the Dire Wolf's body flew over his head. The iron-wood staff in his hand was raised high, and taking advantage of the Dire Wolf's downward momentum, he smashed it fiercely into its cervical spine.

Bang.

[-30] (Weakness Attack, [Heavy Strike])

The staff smashed into the C1 and C2 areas of the Dire Wolf's neck, and the dull sound of bones shattering was clearly audible. The Dire Wolf let out a miserable howl, its body collapsing onto the ground like a sack of sand, its limbs twitching.

Hu Jinsi didn't stop, immediately following up with [Flurry of Blows], the head of the staff falling like raindrops onto the Dire Wolf's cervical spine.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes.

[-12] [-20] [-10].

Every strike landed on the same spot, and the sound of crushing bone became clearer and clearer. The Dire Wolf's cervical spine was smashed inward, and dark red blood seeped out from under the black fur, staining a small patch of the ground.

The Dire Wolf finally stopped moving, its entire body losing the support of strength, becoming less ferocious.

Hu Jinsi didn't have time to look at the loot, turning his head to observe the other two battlefields. Lin Rui and the wolf rider were still fighting one-on-one, the sound of shield and battle axe collisions dense like blacksmithing.

Su Wan's [Crown of Madness] had lasted for over forty seconds, and seeing that the time was about to end, the two controlled Renegades were already covered in wounds, but they were still mechanically hacking at each other.

Hu Jinsi estimated their health. Both Renegades only had a sliver of health left and could be finished off with a few more hits. He rushed over, his iron-wood staff stabbing first into the side of one Renegade's waist, crushing its kidney.

The Renegade groaned and fell into a pool of blood. The other was still swinging its sword; Hu Jinsi smashed the back of its head with his staff from behind, the metal hoop and skull colliding with a teeth-grinding dull sound. The second Renegade also fell.

"Su Wan!" Hu Jinsi shouted. "Help Lin Rui!"

The three of them converged and surrounded the orc wolf rider. This guy was clad in heavy armor, wrapped tightly from head to toe, leaving only a pair of dark yellow eyes behind the mask. Hu Jinsi's staff smashed against its chest armor with a dull clanging sound, and the damage numbers that popped up were all single digits.

[-7]

[-5]

Su Wan stood at a slightly further distance, firing a few arrows with her newly learned Poison Arrow Shot. The arrows struck the orc's helmet and shoulder armor, bouncing off with a clatter; she couldn't find any exposed skin at all. Her archery wasn't yet up to the technical task of precisely aiming for gaps in the armor.

The three of them could only grind it down. Lin Rui held the front, using his shield to [Block] the battle axe's strikes; Hu Jinsi circled to the back from the side, focusing on hitting the joints of the knees and the waist, which were the weakest links of the heavy armor; Su Wan used cantrips like [Dancing Lights] which dealt single-digit damage, slowly grinding away the opponent's health.

After grinding for nearly three minutes, the orc wolf rider finally let out an unwilling roar, knelt on one knee, and the battle axe slipped from its hand.

Its health was ground down to the bottom bit by bit, and the final strike was Hu Jinsi smashing the back of its head; the force penetrated through the gaps in the armor, shattering its brainstem. The orc wolf rider collapsed with a thud, and a few minutes later, a few items and a yellowed blueprint were left on the ground.

...

After the battle ended, Lin Rui sat slumped on the ground. Throughout the entire battle, he had been entangled with this orc wolf rider for nearly five minutes; that alone was enough to drain him. He took a pineapple bun from his inventory, tore open the packaging, and began to gnaw on it in large bites.

The sweet fragrance of the bread and the greasiness of the cream melted on the tip of his tongue; he felt that he had never found a pineapple bun so delicious.

"You rest for a bit," Hu Jinsi said. "Su Wan and I will clean up the battlefield."

Su Wan didn't have much physical exertion; she controlled [Mage Hand] to rummage through the loot on the battlefield. Besides some wolf fur, orc bones, and white-tier equipment, the only thing of value was a yellowed blueprint.

[Blueprint: Bronze Saddle]

[Category: Blacksmithing Blueprint]

[Effect: Learn to forge Bronze Saddle after use.]

[Materials: Bronze Ingot × 6, Medium Leather × 4, Coarse Grinding Stone × 2, Tough Beast Sinew × 3, Wool Cloth × 2, Lesser Bronze Buckle × 2]

[Bronze Saddle]

[Type: Mount Equipment] (Only effective on land mounts like Dire Wolves and warhorses)

[Effect 1: While mounted, mount running speed is slightly increased, movement speed +6%]

[Effect 2: When the rider is attacked while on the mount, there is a 30% chance of not being knocked off the mount.]

[Effect 3: Mount gains an additional 30 HP]

[Item Description: This bronze-reinforced leather saddle locks firmly onto the beast's back, with straps tightly binding the torso, allowing the orc rider to sit steadily on the mount's back during Charges and melees, making it difficult to be knocked off by enemy strikes.]

---

After the three of them finished reading the attributes of the finished product created from this blueprint, they swallowed their saliva in unison.

Not many of the items they were currently wearing had three attributes. And this piece of equipment, merely a saddle, had such overpowered attributes. The sense of difference between humans and beasts deeply stimulated their impoverished hearts.

"Speaking of which," Hu Jinsi's voice trembled slightly, "the attributes of this mount equipment are way too luxurious. Although the number of equipment slots for mounts is fewer, this effect is at least equivalent to three pieces of gear."

Lin Rui's eyes finally returned to calm from the shock. His stamina had also returned, so he stuffed the last bite of pineapple bun into his mouth and clapped his hands. "Put it away. Don't just leave it out here to provoke the three of us. We're all non-mounted classes; staring at this thing won't make it bloom into a flower."

"That's hard to say," Su Wan said unconvinced. "If the three of us work hard today and take down more Blackrock Summoners, what if the Awakening Stone they drop is the same version of the class Awakening Stone that Sun Yao has? If it is, I'll dual-class immediately and sign a horse-type creature as my first creature. Then, the three of us can each craft a saddle."

Watching Su Wan still dreaming her Summoner dream, Hu Jinsi could only go along with her words: "Fine, fine, fine. We'll work hard. But whether it drops or not isn't up to us to decide."

...

After Lin Rui's stamina recovered, the three of them followed a fork in the road beside the main path, arriving at the orc outpost they had visited on the afternoon of the first day. It took nearly three hours to finally clear out all the Blackrock Orcs in this camp.

There were no accidents this time, but this camp did indeed only contain two types of orcs: Blackrock Summoners and Blackrock Renegades.

Whenever there were multiple Blackrock Renegades, they would be controlled by Su Wan's [Crown of Madness] to fight each other, and the Blackrock Summoners couldn't do much under Lin Rui's [Spell Reflection]. The process was so smooth it was almost boring. Some copper coins and wool were found in the camp's tents, but nothing particularly valuable.

However, the Blackrock Orcs in this camp did not drop the net-throwing skill Lin Rui had been obsessing over yesterday. Instead, after the three of them killed quite a few, a Blackrock Summoner dropped a dusty-looking skill stone.

[Skill Stone: Shadow Bolt]

Neither Lin Rui nor Hu Jinsi could learn this skill. They tossed the skill stone to Su Wan to see if she could learn it.

Su Wan took the skill stone and held it in her hand. Her eyes suddenly widened, her gaze lost focus, and she froze in place as if struck by lightning, muttering something. Hu Jinsi called out to her a few times from the side, but she didn't respond.

Lin Rui reached out and waved his hand in front of her eyes, but her pupils didn't move.

"No way," Hu Jinsi frowned. "Has she been possessed?"

"Don't talk nonsense." Lin Rui also became nervous. "But something is definitely wrong; it's already been two minutes."

Hu Jinsi had already started rummaging through his inventory. "Should we perform a Great Reboot spell? Or feed her some super spicy food to stimulate her?"

He had just pulled out a small bottle containing the chili sauce brought back from the [Double Dragon III] dungeon. Before he could even open the cap, Su Wan's eyes suddenly blinked. Then, she opened them wide, and her first reaction was to bend down, pick up a stone from the ground, and hurl it at Hu Jinsi.

"I'll show you a Great Reboot spell!" Su Wan cursed while throwing the stone. "I'll show you prepare super spicy chili! You just wait, Hu Jinsi. Don't let me catch you, or I'll kill you!"

The stone flew past Hu Jinsi's ear and struck the tree trunk behind him with a smack. Hu Jinsi quickly raised his hands in surrender. "My mistake, my mistake! I thought you were possessed!"

Seeing Su Wan still lively and showing her sassy personality, Lin Rui confirmed that she hadn't been possessed or had anything weird happen to her. He quickly asked, "What on earth happened to you? Why did you crash for nearly three minutes just now?"

Su Wan didn't speak. She simply took screenshots of the system messages she had just seen and shared them with Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi. The several pages of information made the two of them feel a bit like they were crashing too.

"Skill Stone detected: Shadow Bolt. Detected that this spell has no similar skills in the current spell system. Do you wish to consume this skill stone and convert it into a new spell, [Lesser Shadow Ray]?"

"As one of the first ten Awakened to convert a spell before level 15, you will receive the reward of consuming skill stones of the same name to permanently increase the spell's level. The reward preview is as follows:"

"Consume one [Skill Stone: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the cantrip [Lesser Shadow Ray]. [Lesser Shadow Ray: Range 20 meters, 1-8 necrotic damage. Special Effect: Health lost to this damage cannot be restored within 6 seconds.]"

--- "Consume an additional two [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the 1st-level spell [Shadow Ray]. [Shadow Ray: Range 30 meters, 2-16 necrotic damage. Inherited Effects: Inherits all effects of Lesser Shadow Ray. Shadow Burn: If the target is already affected by a continuous necrotic damage effect you applied, this spell's attack roll gains advantage.]"

--- "Consume an additional four [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the 3rd-level spell [Shadow Soul Ray]. [Shadow Soul Ray: Range 33 meters, 4-32 necrotic damage. Inherited Effects: Inherits all effects of Lesser Shadow Ray and Shadow Ray. Soul Extraction: If this attack hits, you restore health equal to half the value of the spell's damage.]"

--- "Consume an additional eight [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the 5th-level spell [Empowered Shadow Ray]. [Empowered Shadow Ray: Range 36 meters, 6-48 necrotic damage. Inherited Effects: Inherits all effects of Lesser Shadow Ray, Shadow Ray, and Shadow Soul Ray. Shadow Scorch: If the target's health is below 20%, the damage of this attack increases by 2-16.]"

--- "Consume an additional sixteen [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the 7th-level spell [Greater Shadow Ray]. [Greater Shadow Ray: Range 40 meters, 8-64 necrotic damage. Inherited Effects: Inherits all effects of Lesser Shadow Ray, Shadow Ray, Shadow Soul Ray, and Empowered Shadow Ray. Nightfall: If this attack hits, there is a 50% chance that your next spell in the Shadow Ray series will not consume a spell slot.]"

--- "Consume an additional thirty-two [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] to obtain the 9th-level spell [Maximized Shadow Ray]. [Maximized Shadow Ray: Range 40 meters, 10-80 necrotic damage. Inherited Effects: Inherits all effects of Lesser Shadow Ray, Shadow Ray, Shadow Soul Ray, Empowered Shadow Ray, and Greater Shadow Ray. Shadow Pact: This attack ignores the target's necrotic damage resistance. If the target is immune to necrotic damage, it deals radiant damage equal to half the damage instead.]"

The three of them stood in place, the faint glow of the system panel reflecting on their faces, the air seeming to solidify. After a full half-minute, Lin Rui was the first to speak. His voice was a bit dry, as if he hadn't drunk water in a long time.

"Su Wan. You didn't Photoshop this, did you?"

"Photoshop your head!" Su Wan retorted irritably. "My shock is deeper than both of yours, okay? Otherwise, why do you think I crashed on the spot for so long? I'm a perfectly fine Bard, and then it gives me a shadow-based spell system that can be upgraded all the way to the 9th level. How do you expect me to choose! What do you expect me to think!"

Hu Jinsi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked at the information on the system panel, looked at Su Wan, and then patted Lin Rui on the shoulder.

"What's there to think about?" he said, his voice carrying an unquestionable firmness. "Learn it. Why wouldn't you? Lin Rui and I can't learn it, but the two of us need someone to have a spell system that can lead straight to the 9th level."

"Even if we have to smash our pots and sell our iron, we have to learn it. Don't worry, starting this week, once we enter a dungeon, besides the necessary tasks, after we clear out the Murlocs at the town entrance, we'll accompany you to farm Blackrock Orcs every day until we slaughter all these Blackrock Summoners. It would be a waste not to learn such a powerful single-target spell."

Su Wan looked at Lin Rui. Lin Rui nodded, his expression equally serious. "Jinsi is right. This is the first time in my life I've seen a 9th-level spell. And it's a single-target damage spell with five special effects; I've never heard of any creature that can be immune to both 9th-level necrotic and radiant damage simultaneously."

Su Wan looked at the two of them, her eyes feeling a bit warm. She lowered her head, was silent for about two seconds, and then suddenly raised her head, clenching her fists.

"Then I'll learn it!" she said, her voice carrying a sense of reckless boldness. "Let's set a small goal first: we'll farm until we at least get this spell to the 1st level!"

The three of them looked at each other. The mountain wind blew past, rolling the scattered orc bones on the ground a few times. On the mountain path in the distance, the footsteps and low growls of Blackrock Orcs could still be heard. But at this moment, the trio's attention was no longer on those orcs.

A 9th-level spell. It was right before their eyes. As long as they collected enough skill stones, they could upgrade it all the way to the 9th level. This was an unprecedented opportunity and an unprecedented temptation.

Hu Jinsi even did a quick calculation in his mind: a total of 63 [Skill Stones: Shadow Bolt] were needed, and excluding the one they already had, that meant 62 more were required. The drop rate of the Blackrock Summoners was unknown, but there were so many dungeons in the world of Azeroth; if they farmed slowly, it was definitely something they could achieve in their lifetime.

He suppressed the thought. It was too far off. Thinking about the 9th level wasn't realistic right now; first, they had to figure out how to farm to the 1st level and lay a solid foundation. The 1st-level [Shadow Ray] already had 2-16 damage and an attack advantage; for Su Wan, that was already a qualitative leap.

Su Wan carefully put the [Skill Stone: Shadow Bolt] into her inventory and then clapped her hands. "Let's go. There's still time today, at least clear two more camps. Let's see the drop rate."

The three turned and walked toward the location where the next Blackrock Summoner might appear. Sunlight shone down from the ridge, stretching their shadows long.

Su Wan walked in the middle, her steps a bit larger than usual, the [Siren's Voice Collar] around her neck shimmering with metallic luster in the sunlight. Lin Rui carried his shield, his fingers tapping lightly on its surface, making a dull thudding sound. Hu Jinsi carried his ironwood staff; the beast blood on the staff had already dried, forming patches of dark brown scabs.

North of Lakeside Town, there were still many orcs waiting for them. And Su Wan's path to the 9th level began today.