Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

City of Light, City’s Moat.

Before Lin Jie left, he returned specifically to check on the City’s Moat. The Level 100 Gold Boss Naga Guard was no longer there. He had probably teleported back to the Naga Shrine once the Fishing Festival had ended. Although the mission was indicated as ‘completed’ in the mission column, no prizes had been given.

‘The prizes were probably forfeited because I told the Mermaid Princess and Sea Mage to elope. What a pity, the Sea Mage did not appear in my previous life, I thought that he and the princess were truly in love and wanted to make use of them to boost my status in the Poseidon Shrine, but it’s all gone.’ Lin Jie let out a wry smile as his eyes rolled. ‘However, this is not entirely bad. Now that I have control over the Sea Mage, maybe some love drama or political juice might happen. When I intercept then to expose the Sea Mage’s ulterior motive, Princess Helen might be so touched with me and… oh well, I could probably get something in return.’

Every coin had two sides. For example, Lin Jie had let the Sea Mage and the Mermaid Princess go. As he had gained the Seaheart Pearl, he had become the Poseidon Shrine and Naga Shrine’s enemy. However, the Sea Mage was hiding an ulterior motive, which would act as Lin Jie’s chance in the future!

‘With my current abilities, I’m probably able to undergo the Secret Techniques of Clomaros mission! By the time I complete the mission, my abilities will be greatly boosted, and soon it will be time for the first round of the final battle…’ Lin Lie was planning his future steps in his mind.

After some time, Lin Jie flipped his palm, and the ancient and mysterious Secret Techniques of Clomaros scroll, engraved with thousands of drawings, fell into his hands.

As it opened gradually, an ancient and wild smell shot out.

‘This is… the Ancient Wilderness Temple? Exactly how high is the difficulty level of this Secret Techniques of Clomaros mission?’ Lin Jie was astounded.

On top of the scroll was an engraving of an ancient temple. The painting seemed to still be moving, countless toxic bees and ants were scrambling amongst the debris of the temple, enshrouded in vines. That made the temple seem as though it was a forest castle.

The New Age has been through the ruling of countless races, including the powerful Barbarians! Amongst the NPCs that Lin Jie knew of, Barbarians took up a decent amount of them, such as Wind Rider Sword Saint, the Barbarian Enhancement Master, whose enhancing furnace had been stolen, and so on.

However, currently, there were not many Barbarians in the New Age. They were at most one out of a million in population as compared to other races, such as humans and elves, and a large bulk of them resided in the City of Barbarians.

However, a few ages ago, the land had once belonged to the Barbarians! The ancient ‘Barbarian Throne’ could be found in many deep forests and steep cliffs as the Barbarians had conquered almost all of the land. However, the Barbarians’ bloodlust knew no bounds. Hence, after their conquest, the war might be over, but the Barbarians had succumbed to internal fighting and massacre. The internal strife for land between the Barbarian clans had ultimately given the other races the chance to make a comeback.

The most mysterious of them all was the Ancient Wilderness Temple! It was told that every Barbarian Clan Head had received a special summons, gathering all of them within the temple, and they had all disappeared in the end. This was also one of the main reasons why the Barbarians had almost been forced into extinction—the loss of their leaders.

Based on Lin Jie’s knowledge, only 60 Ancient Wilderness Temples existed on The New Age, and most of them were Level 100 maps, which were full of dangers, as well as opportunities. In his previous life, after reaching Level 100, Lin Jie had once entered a Level 120 temple and had almost been slapped to death by the guarding giant. As such, the difficulty level of the monsters within could be easily inferred.

Ding~

—’Do you accept the mission Secret Techniques of Clomaros?’

Mission Description: The moment you opened the Secret Technique of Clomaros, the mysterious curse had already engulfed you. You have to make your way to the Ancient Wilderness Temple and search for the message that Clomaros has left behind in order to break the curse.

‘Curse?’ Lin Jie squinted and noticed a trail of pale yellow air, which twined onto his body from his meridian and soon entered his body.

Ancient Wilderness Curse: The great Barbarians gradually died in the process of killing. In order to warn their descendants, they left behind the Ancient Wilderness Curse. For every opponent target that you have killed, your overall attributes will increase by 5%, and this will repeat for 20 cycles. Once the 20 cycles have been reached, your level will be reduced by 1, and killing more targets reduces your level by 1 as well.

‘This is the Death Curse!’ Lin Jie puked out blood. The difficulty level of missions that were coupled with the Death Curse was insanely high. The Death Curse, as its name suggested, once activated, it was a level-drop death. The scariest part was that even though Lin Jie’s level would drop by 1 due to the Ancient Wilderness Curse, the curse’s level would not be reset to zero. Instead, it would just keep piling up.

Missions with the Death Curse were all of an insanely high level! The number of monsters one could slay was limited, and the methods available were limited as well. Furthermore, if any opponent came to mess with you, it was game over! For example, if someone hired many small fries to disturb Lin Jie during his mission, once he attacked and killed them, the Ancient Wilderness Curse would start to rapidly pile up until the final explosion. which would lead to a level drop!

‘Luckily, I didn’t open the scroll at the start. Otherwise, I would have been a goner.’ Lin Jie felt relieved despite the shock. If he had opened the scroll the moment he had obtained it, it would have been game over for him. According to what Lin Jie knew, the Death Curse had a hidden attribute—Gain Superimpose! In other words, if Lin Jie was to kill someone at 95% superimposed attributes, while he dropped a level, his attributes would increase by 5%! This was a chance for the players’ strength explosion, and it would depend on them to make good use of it.

This matter should not be delayed, he should leave immediately! In case someone found him and messed with him. ‘I can’t afford to entertain them,’ thought Lin Jie. He was going to make a move! However, at that instant, Lin Jie received a message from Seven Ears.

Holy Light Potion: Resolve abnormal symptoms, restores 2,000 HP, and does not include cool down period.

……

The Ancient Wilderness Temple mentioned in the mission notice was not at the City of Barbarians, where the Barbarians gathered, but inside a dense forest.

Rajakil Forest, also called the ‘Magic Woods’, ‘Venom Woods’, etc., some even called it the ‘Mage Forest’.

Ding~

—”You have entered the Rajakil Forest, the strong elemental fluctuation caused your Elemental Damage to increase by 10%, Mana Bar to decrease by 8%, and a 3% chance of you generating a layer of Magic Shield while you cast your spells, which will be able to absorb 100 points of damage.’

The campground of the Rajakil Forest gathered a large number of Mages and only Mages. Trees that were over 1,000 years old could be easily spotted, while the humid environment encouraged the growth of many species of bugs and biological animals. Trees that had absorbed the elemental powers could even evolve into Tree Demons.

Lin Jie praised, “This is indeed the Mages’ Heavens. The toxic worms, bees, and centipedes spawned by the forest are of a very small size, and there are countless of them on every coordinate. Using AOE spells to slay them is such a breeze. And the many tree demons that are being constantly respawned, their wood base will not be able to handle the extra 100% damage brought by fire-type spells. They are also unable to move, making them great targets.”

In the campground, many Mages were rattling to purchase potions as well as selling the loot they had obtained from slaying the monsters. The monsters in Rajakil Forest ranged from Level 25 to 40, and there was a large amount of Elite and Rare Elite monsters appearing. Some tree demons even produced a type of Wooden-based Herb during their evolution, which was an excellent material in refining the Mana Explosion Potion.

Lin Jie glanced, observed the map, and walked towards the outer circle.

“Hey, Warrior!” A Level 31 Mage, who was clad in a red robe and held a burning fire wand, ran over, smiled, and said, “Are you here to complete a mission? Do you need a road clearance service?”

Lin Jie let out a slight smile. A road clearance service was targeted at players that had come to the Rajakil Forest for missions. Amongst those players were ones that were rich and felt that demon-slaying was a chore. Hence, some Mages would provide a road clearance service, where they would clear a convenient path with a fee.

This Mage was called ‘Small Melon’, looked pretty intelligent, and was good at selling his services.

“What’s the price?” asked Lin Jie.

He had the Ancient Wilderness Curse on him now, and heading to the Ancient Wilderness Temple on his own would prove difficult. If he could hire someone to clear the road for him, it would save him a lot of trouble. He was going to call Domestic Fat Cattle to help, but the latter seemed to have been traumatized by Lin Jie’s generosity. Hence, he was busy farming for equipment now. Naturally, Lin Jie had been rendered speechless when he heard that.

Small Melon saw that there was a chance of business, smiled, and rubbed his hands as he took a look at Lin Jie’s equipment. The glimmer from Kiara Beast King Armor left him a mildly surprised as he smiled. “There is a total of 5 Fire Mages on our team, and they are all experts. As long as the map you are heading to is below Level 35, we will get you there safely for 5 coins.”

“Oh?” The corner of Lin Jie’s mouth curled up as he took out 5 gold coins. “Get your teammates here,” he said.

“Okay, thanks, boss.” Small Melon did not hide his surprise as he did not expect anyone to pay with such alacrity. The average rate for road clearance was 1 gold coin, and at the very most was 2 gold coins. Often, people would pay half at the start, with the remaining paid upon completion. This was also because their service regions were maps below Level 35. If it was above Level 35, the charge would be much higher.

‘Could this man be going to…?’

However, Small Melon had already taken the money, so he would have to fulfill his services. Maybe this Warrior, who was fully clothed in rare items, was a generous man. Small Melon kept the money and called his teammates, “Brothers, it’s a big job, time to start work!”

Four Fire Mages, all wearing mahogany robes, appeared. Those were Level 25 Gold robes produced in the Rajakil Forest. They offered an additional 10% damage to Wood monsters, and they were one of the best items produced locally.

The average team level was 28, with Small Melon being the one with the highest level. It was no wonder that they had sent him out to get business.

Lin Jie waved and said, “Let’s go, my mission area is in the heart of the map, just send me there.”

Small Melon checked it was a Level 35 map, as well as the gathering ground for the monster Killer Bee. Once one crossed the border, they would be encircled by many Killer Bees. Thinking of this, Small Melon was ecstatic.

A few weeks ago, this mission would have been too difficult. However, after so many Fire Mages had slain the Killer Bees to level up, that map had been farmed cleanly. Small Melon’s team could also save a large amount of effort! It felt good!

“Boss, if you don’t mind, please join our team first. Oh, right, just to inform you, we are all experienced in the forest, so we have already planned the route for you. You just have to follow us.” Small Melon smiled. This was to prevent some employers, who were using the name of road clearance, to make them slay more monsters. They were all wily old foxes and naturally had taken precautionary measures.

Lin Jie gave smiled and said, “I won’t join your team. I don’t need any prizes either. Let’s begin our journey.”

Small Melon was ecstatic! Not joining the team? That means they wouldn’t have to split their experience points and coins!

‘This boss is such a great guy!’

Small Melon exclaimed, “Brothers, let’s get to work!”