33 - Mechanical City (II)

Chapter 33: Mechanical City (II)

Most AoE skills required a cast time, and the more powerful the skill, the longer the casting time. So, for a spellcaster to solo groups of mobs was actually quite dangerous. For example, Xiao Ran’s “One Thousand Troops and Horses” skill required a 20-second chant before casting. If he used this AoE skill, the group of monsters would have torn him to shreds before the spell was even cast.

However, Xiao Ran’s self-made “Hidden Thunder” skill was a summoning skill that took advantage of his brush spirit summoning. It didn’t require a chant and was instantly cast, so no wonder the onlookers’ perspectives were shattered.

But more importantly than shattered perspectives was—quickly inviting him to the party!

Xiao Ran’s inbox was instantly flooded with party invites.

Although these messages didn’t pop up in his field of view to disturb him, the constant system notification sounds were quite annoying. So, Xiao Ran casually accepted an invite from one of the parties, and the incessant system notification sounds finally quieted down.

However, the peace lasted for less than a second before a loud female voice rang out in the party chat.

“What the heck? Were you Xiao Ran??? How did you end up in Mechanical City?!”

Oh? He encountered someone familiar with him?

Xiao Ran raised an eyebrow, opened the party list, and realized that he didn’t recognize any of the people in the party.

Indeed, Mechanical City was known for being crowded with Puppeteers. Xiao Ran had joined numerous random parties before, but it was the first time he encountered a party with three puppeteer players. The other two teammates were a Shen Bi and a Divine Doctor.

The one who had screamed before was the team leader, a female level 42 puppeteer player named Mingyue Qingge.

“We were just discussing your online videos!” Mingyue Qingge was extremely excited. After saying that, before Xiao Ran could even respond, she continued chattering.

“Videos?” Xiao Ran was puzzled.

However, the overly excited girl seemed not to hear his question. She just happily said, “We are at your 9 o’clock direction, where there are many, many summons. Can you see them?”

Following the captain’s instructions, Xiao Ran looked towards the 9 o’clock direction and immediately spotted them in the crowd of players.

There was no way to miss them; five players were completely submerged in an army of summons.

Xiao Ran suppressed a smile and walked up to the group of summoned puppets. A sweet and pretty girl of seventeen or eighteen years old struggled to squeeze out of the crowd, looking at Xiao Ran with a curious and excited expression, saying, “You look much more handsome in person than in the videos!”

Another player dressed in Divine Doctor attire also emerged from the pile, with a wry smile, saying, “In the video, he was just a dark shadow. How could you figure out he looks better in person?”

Xiao Ran looked at his equipment and knew he was the only healer in the team, Luo Yan.

Xiao Ran had been holding it in for a while and couldn’t help but ask, “What video are you talking about?”

Mingyue Qingge said, “It’s the video of you in the Maigu Forest, exploiting a bug to farm monsters! It went viral online, don’t you know?”

“I really didn’t know.”

“Let me show you.” With that, Mingyue Qingge added Xiao Ran as a friend and sent him a video.

The video was a bit dim, but from the continuous barking of dogs and the figure kiting monsters behind him by walking on white clouds, Xiao Ran confirmed it was indeed him.

“It really is me,” Xiao Ran remarked. The player who recorded the video did a good job of hiding; Xiao Ran had spent hours there and hadn’t noticed being filmed.

“Yeah, your bug-exploiting skill to pull mobs has been shared by several pros. It’s the hottest video in Shenzhou these days.”

Seeing Xiao Ran chatting enthusiastically with the team and the failed team invitations in their hands, surrounding players naturally understood what was going on. They looked at him with a hint of regret before dispersing one by one.

The puppeteer teammates’ summons finally had the chance to disperse, revealing a few other teammates who were almost flattened by the pile.

Mingyue Qingge was ecstatic, chatting as if she had won millions, excitedly discussing Xiao Ran’s achievements for the day, his game videos, his feud with Shen Yao a month ago, his counter-kills in the world channel today, and even the story of Jun Heqiu and Wo Bu Ru Diyu Shei Ru fleeing. The players who were there at the time vividly described the events, embellishing them with passion. If the Sword God and Wo Bu Ru Diyu Shei Ru, knew that they were criticized so fiercely by netizens despite actually having retreated with dignity, they would probably have fainted from anger.

Xiao Ran was starting to feel embarrassed by these enthusiastic fans. At that moment, the only silent player in the team, the Shen Bi, Taozi Touhou, suddenly interjected, “Isn’t it just creating objects in mid-air? What’s so impressive about that? When my Paintings Become Reality skill reaches level five, I can also use the skill like this.”

He glanced at the beautiful Mingyue Qingge with a hint of jealousy in his eyes.

The free skill Paintings Become Reality allows the player to select a new object to draw every five levels. By level ten, a player could have three inanimate objects. Since Xiao Ran’s monster-luring video was released, many Shen Bi players expressed their intention to create a white cloud as their next drawing object.

As soon as Taozi Touhou spoke, an awkward silence fell over the team. Mingyue Qingge nonchalantly patted Taozi Touhou on the shoulder and said, “You have ambition; that’s good. I believe in you.”

Then she turned to Xiao Ran and said, “Master, don’t mind him. We’ve been discussing your feats all day today. Taozi tends to get a bit emotional. He’s also a Shen Bi, you understand, right? Don’t take what he said to heart.”

Although Mingyue Qingge looked like the youngest girl in the team, she had a knack for leadership and a good emotional intelligence.

Since Qingge had already smoothed things over, Taozi Touhou naturally couldn’t say much more. He just gave a cold snort, looking somewhat sulky.

Xiao Ran didn’t mind these small matters at all; his purpose for joining the team was very clear.

“I need some charged crystals. Could I please have any of them that drop? I don’t need anything else.”

Taozi Touhou retorted, “There are three puppeteers in the team. If you take all the charged crystals, what about the others? You don’t want anything else because the things that drop in Mechanical City are all materials for puppeteers. Of course you don’t want them; you don’t need them.”

Mingyue Qingge shot him a glance, “Taozi.”

Xiao Ran said, “When I say ‘anything else,’ I am also including equipment and coins. How about it? Is that okay?”

Taozi Touhou was stunned. Besides charged crystals, he really didn’t want anything else? If it was like that, there was nothing more to say to Xiao Ran.

Another pretty puppeteer player in the team, Nuannuan Xiao Taiyang, noticed Xiao Ran’s urgency and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you doing a quest? Shen Bi don’t need charged crystals, right?”

Xiao Ran didn’t hide it and nodded, “Yes, the task requires me to collect three hundred charged crystals.”

Everyone gasped in shock, “Three hundred?!”

That was an outrageous demand! The drop rate for charged crystals was comparable to rare equipment, and at most, a single run through the dungeon in Mechanical City would yield only five or six charged crystals. Xiao Ran needed three hundred in one go? What kind of high-level quest was this?

Since it was someone else’s task, they couldn’t pry further. Seeing Xiao Ran’s helpless expression, Mingyue Qingge hesitated for a moment before agreeing, “Alright, we’ll do that. Charged crystals aren’t that valuable; we just need to spend more time fighting monsters.”

No one else objected, though Taizi Touhou still looked a bit reluctant. But since the three puppeteers in the group had no issues, he couldn’t reasonably object.

“Thank you.” Xiao Ran said sincerely.

There were three puppeteers in the group, so naturally, Xiao Ran, a spellcaster, didn’t need to handle the task of pulling monsters. Mingyue Qingge directed her two precious bronze inkstick puppets to dive into the mob, and they came back with seven or eight mechanical puppets trailing behind.

As soon as the mechanical puppets emerged from behind the stone hill, Taozi Touhou hastily cast an Ink Bamboo spell. Black, sharpened bamboo spikes sprang from the ground, piercing into the mechanical puppets. The four hit puppets charged at Taozi Touhou but were blocked by Nuannuan Xiao Taiyang’s three baby iron bear puppets, which acted like a solid iron wall, preventing them from reaching him.

Taozi Touhou gave Xiao Ran a triumphant glance, intending to showcase their team strategy centered around himself. With the mechanical puppets held back by the baby bears, he could safely cast area-of-effect spells without worrying about being hit by the monsters.

Xiao Ran noticed that the hit puppets were heading towards Taozi Touhou while the remaining four puppets continued charging at him. Originally, Xiao Ran could have taken out all the mechanical puppets in one go, but they were now split into two groups. He had a Reed Painting spell prepared for optimal timing, but Taozi Touhou’s action forced him to change plans. With a sigh, Xiao Ran switched the Reed Painting spell to a normal attack, quickly hitting each of the four mechanical puppets to draw their hatred before dashing over to Taozi Touhou’s side.

Taozi Touhou glanced at Xiao Ran warily, but Xiao Ran kept his focus on the four mechanical puppets. Once they were within the iron bear puppets’ defensive line, Xiao Ran cast Reed Painting, binding all eight mechanical puppets together. Then, he executed his familiar skill combo, combining hidden thunder with clouds.

“Nice!” Qingge Mingyue couldn’t help but applaud, her face lit up with excitement.

Before, they had only seen Xiao Ran’s skillful crowd control and timing from videos. Now, being in a team together and witnessing his techniques up close, they truly felt the depth of his skill.

His monster pulling and grouping skills were not just mechanical and repetitive; when a mistake occurred in one step, he could instantly react and make corrections as if those adjustments were part of the original plan, smooth and natural—a remarkable on-the-spot response!

Efficiently, he dispatched all eight mechanical puppets. Qingge Mingyue energetically directed the iron bears for the next round of monster pulling. Passing by Taizi Touhou, she completely missed the slight blush on his cheeks.

No one blamed him for disrupting the team’s rhythm, so why was he so resentful?

Taizi Touhou gritted his teeth in frustration.

Clearly, even without Xiao Ran, Taizi Touhou could perform at this level. He had made one or two mistakes before, nothing that particularly hindered Xiao Ran—

Why did he suddenly feel this awkward sensation of being a villain being defeated by the protagonist?