Chapter 177: Top 10 Masters?

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Hello, everyone. I believe everyone came here after reading the post. First, I would like to thank everyone for coming to help. Our number is close right now. Soon, we’ll start attacking this ant nest.”

In the public channel, the person who had started the channel finally started speaking.

“This Fire Ant nest is a mid-sized nest. There are over 50,000 Desert Fire Ants inside. Since everyone came here, I believe everyone knows the difficulty of fighting a Desert Fire Ant nest like this, so I hope that everyone will follow the commands later and work with each other.”

“Of course. It’s not my command.”

“To command elite players like you, an unknown pawn like me is not qualified, but I’m sure there’s a person I know who everyone knows…”

Feng Luo lay on the boulder where he had set up the Eye of the Thunder and listened to the player called Unparalleled Violence who used his authority to speak through the channel. Feng Luo’s eyes were looking at 24K’s stats interface as it lay beside him, because a system notification had just appeared in front of his eyes.

Your pet’s evolution is complete. HP 500. Maximum Psionic Energy 350. Psionic Energy Recovery Rate 20%. Maximum Beetle Egg Storage: 10. Daily Egg Production Speed: 1.

Your pet learned a new skill: Psionic Energy Shield!

Finally finished evolving!

Upon learning this, Feng Luo felt a burden lifted off his shoulder. Truth be told, he thought that 24K’s “Devour” talent—which required it to eat core crystals—was a headache. Over the past few days, even after he’d fed 24K several Commander-grade core crystals, there had been no change.

This time, he’d accidentally came across a “Psionics Crystal” and had finally met the “Evolution” prerequisites. In regards to the result of the evolution, he was both expectant and worried. Fortunately, the result was quite satisfactory. The HP, Maximum Psionic Energy, and even the stat that was hardest to obtain, the Egg Production Speed, had increased by one.

24K’s title of “War’s First Pet” was now probably even more consolidated!

However, what interested Feng Luo most was the newly acquired “Psionic Energy Shield” skill.

Psionic Energy Shield

Consumes a certain amount of psionic energy (Basic 20 points) and creates an energy shield surrounding the bodies of the beetles or king beetles connected through the mental link. The strength of the shield depends on the amount of psionic energy consumed.

Good skill!

Feng Luo’s eyes lit up. At a glance, he saw the best use for the skill. Although this “Psionic Energy Shield” could not be used on him and did not really increase his strength, it was extremely useful in increasing the combat strength of his Beetle Squad. Especially the Suicide Bombeetle or the Bladed Beetles that had high attacks but weak constitutions.

A Psionic Energy Shield could also have great protection effects. It was important to remember that although a group of beetles looked strong, in truth, the weakness of each type of beetle was very obvious. For example, there was the low HP and low defense of the Bladed Beetle, and its fear of area-of-effect skills. The slow movement speed of the Spray Beetles made it difficult for them to dodge skills. And the slow flying speed of the Suicide Bombeetle and the loud noises produced by the buzzing wings made it a clear target that could be easily taken out while in the sky…

Previously, when facing the Desert Rock Lizard Commander, the only reason Feng Luo had won was that luck had been on his side. If it weren’t for the fact that the Desert Rock Lizard Commander had only one long-range attack, the Earth Spike—or if it had possessed a long-range air attack—it could have destroyed the two Suicide Bombeetles from afar.

And if it had possessed any close-range area-of-effect skills, the Bladed Beetle with high attacks but low defense and HP would not have been able to get close, since one area-of-effect skill would have been able to instantly destroy all the Bladed Beetles. Also, if its greatest weapon, its tongue, hadn’t been blown in two because it had eaten the wrong thing, the eight Bladed Beetles could have been pulled straight into its mouth and been reduced to crushed bugs after getting too close to it…

But with the Psionic Energy Shield… At appropriate times, it would be extremely useful.

******

“Next, let’s welcome the Level-50 Machine Gunner, Crimson Gun Flame, to command everyone and brief everyone about the upcoming plan!”

At that time, the player called Unparalleled Violence speaking in the public channel had finally finished all his gibberish. Next, the main speaking authority was switched to another person.

The moment Unparalleled Violence finished talking, the public channel suddenly became flooded with voices again.

“Crimson Gun Flame. Is it the Crimson Gun Flame who was once on the Top 10 Masters list?”

“Although it has been two months since he’s been evaluated as one of the Top 10 Masters, his votes still rank among the top 20, and his strength is definitely at the top-10 level!”

“My idol! He’s actually at Level 50 already!”

“Where is he?”

“Top 10 Master?”

“The players in Storm City are really unlike the players from rural areas like Silvermoon City,” Feng Luo said with an amused expression. He was surprised by the sudden ruckus on the public channel. After hearing what the players said, he understood that this person was probably a “star player” in Storm City.

Silvermoon City was a small city, and it did not have many players. The only player who was truly popular among all the common players was Roaring Dragon Invincible. And in Silvermoon City, there wasn’t really an atmosphere where people chased after masters. Everyone seemed to prefer playing in their own style. Feng Luo would never have imagined that the players in Storm City would be so passionate about superstar players, to the extent where there was even a Top 10 Masters list!

“Hello, everyone!” said a voice. “I believe that most of you have probably heard of me. It is a coincidence that I was here working on a mission tonight and was spotted by Captain Unparallelled Violence before he brought me over to be the temporary commander! I hope that everyone gives me face and is not overly self-centered after the fight starts. After all, everyone’s objective is to destroy this Fire Ant nest!”

“Master Crimson, if it’s you, we’ll definitely give face!”

“Don’t worry, idol!”

On the public channel, some people immediately gave positive replies. However, although their IDs were hidden (players could choose to not display their IDs on public channels, and their names would be replaced with numbers based on their entry into the channel), upon closer inspection, it wasn’t hard to find out that the people who went along with him only numbered in the tens. After all, not everyone was an idol-chaser. Some were even disgusted with this sort of “superstar player.”

The reason? Everyone naturally knew.

“All right, then I’ll start the plan now. Scouts, please scout the surrounding carefully to check if there are any hidden monsters around!”

From Crimson Gun Flame’s voice, there was a tinge of pride in his popularity. Then he started giving instructions.

“Doctors, please buff your teammates! Manipulators, please take out your staffs and wait for my command before we cast area-of-effect skills! Machine Gunners—”

As he spoke, there was a gunshot. On top of the Desert Fire Ant nest, something was knocked off by a bullet, and a Desert Fire Ant was killed straight away!

Boom!

After that, like a rock thrown into a lake, the entire Desert Fire Ant nest became chaotic. A huge number of ants the size of sniper rifle bullets came crawling out of the nest.

“What was that? Who fired that shot?” In the public channel, Crimson Gun Flame’s voice sounded exasperated.

“I’m sorry, it misfired!” replied a player with a hidden ID who sounded a bit lazy. It sounded as if he had intentionally changed his voice.

“Misfire?”

“No f*cking way the guns in a game would ever misfire!”

Instantly, players defending Crimson Gun Flame began to shout and curse through the communication channel.

“Stop bickering.”

“The Desert Fire Ants have awoken, and they are moving toward us. Hurry up and prepare for battle, stop messing around! You think we can’t fight just because we have no command?”

Some players who had been silent the whole time began shouting.

“Tsk-tsk. As expected. Superstars aren’t always popular. Everyone’s playing a game. How many would be willing to follow orders…?”

Around the outermost periphery of the group of players, lying behind the propped-up Eye of the Thunder equipped with a magazine that contained normal armor-piercing bullets used for leveling, Feng Luo shook his head. After that, he used the sniping scope and zoomed in to start looking for his sniping target.

Feng Luo was not the one who had fired the shot. He did not know this Crimson Gun Flame, so he would definitely not commit such a “public-pleasing” stunt.

However, thanks to the stunt of that Sniper, the entire Desert Fire Ant group was awake, and everyone could only begin to attack. Fireballs, Wind Blade, Bullets, and even Meteor Rain and other ultimate skills flew toward the Fire Ant nest. The tactics and commands that they had previously discussed all turned to smoke in an instant.

One could imagine just how bad Crimson Gun Flame looked at that moment. Superstar players did not have it as easy as one might have imagined.