The three items—a Lethal Balrog Pet Egg, a Fire Element Magic Skill Book with unknown properties, and a Dark Gold staff—in addition to the prizes obtained earlier had sufficiently filled in the void left by losing the Amethyst Orc. In fact, there was even a surplus. Tier 5 Elite Monster Pet Eggs were not available in the Lost Merchant’s market, while the normal asking price for Tier 5 Pet Egg alone was at least 500 coins and above.

After he packed the three items into his backpack, Qin Ruo passed one of the Dark Gold equipment and gem to Black Rock and Snowleaf respectively after they keyed in the bidding amount.

Again, the remaining unidentified Gold equipment were equally distributed among Subjugator, Judge, and Fateless at the price of 10,000 gold coins each. Meanwhile, the Mana Core was also auctioned by Subjugator at a price of 30,000 gold coins.

After they resolved the loot allocation, Qin Ruo and Snowleaf refocused on healing the Amethyst Orc’s HP.

The recovery of 100,000 HP was a tedious process. Before, Qin Ruo depended only on his own Aquaheal and took more than 20 minutes only to bring the monster’s HP back to roughly 60,000 points. In the process, he also drained mana from players and monsters that he came across, making quite a scene along the way.

Both Qin Ruo and Snowleaf took turns to rest before they finally returned the Amethyst Orc to its best condition after 10 minutes.

When the six of them finally entered the teleport point in a ceremonious manner, the Demon Faction players had waited long at the grove. They were already growing deeply impatient.

“F*ck! What the hell?!”

“They took forever!”

“Do Asians tend to waste time like this?”

The group of players ran out hurriedly from the grove, with a few of them cursing and swearing non-stop. It felt terrible for sure to hide like cowards in the face of so many powerful opponents.

The leading Bowmaster turned back and sneered at them, “You fools better keep your mouth shut after you get to the next level. If you want to say something, use the Party Channel. If anyone of you attracts any unnecessary attention, I’ll definitely kick you out of the League once we’re out of here!”

“Oh, thank you for your generosity! Let’s praise the merciful Saint Mary that our Squad Leader didn’t ask us to keep our mouths shut on this level. It’s such encouraging news.”

The Caucasian Bandit’s exaggerated tone perturbed the Bowmaster. He silently regretted mentioning the “next level”.

“Hey Jack, how’s your girlfriend doing?”

“Shut it, you f*cking bat!”

“Oh no! That’s not the correct way of saying it. You should call me the Vampire Duke.”

“Don’t make me sew your mouth up with my own hand.”

“Oh, thanks for the kind reminder and offer. It’s Level 4 from here on so your service is no longer needed. I wonder if we’ll meet the six Angel Faction players again when we’re down there. It ‘d be wonderful if we do. The big guy’s blood must be very tasty.”

“Damn you, bat! Give me a reason why I should not tear your filthy mouth apart now!”

Following the angry shriek, one of them was seen stepping hastily into the teleport point.

***

“So, this is Level 4? It’s freaking cold in here!”

“It’s such a desolate area.”

Fateless and Black Rock expressed their first impression of the place after they surveyed the environment.

Qin Ruo landed on the ground and did not feel the chilling sensation mentioned by Fateless since he was insulated by a barrier like Black Rock. However, he could still feel the strong wind under the yellow sky, gusting past them in the deserted place.

Dead trees appeared sparingly across the land. As far as they could see, there were no signs of monsters or shadows of other players. Apart from the sound of the wind, which blew past them, the region seemed to be a dead zone.

Just as everyone began to feel a little disappointed by the rather anticlimactic scenery, the mysterious Judge, a man usually of a few words, suddenly warned, “Be extra careful. This is the Barren Domain.”

“What?” The other five of them, including Qin Ruo, turned to Judge at the same time.

“You’ve been here before?”

Judge shook his head and said, “First time.” His reply was as plain as it could get.

“Then how did you learn about this place? Even the official forum doesn’t offer much information about Level 4 as far as I know.” Subjugator looked at Judge with a puzzled expression and asked again, “First of all, who named this place the Barren Domain?”

The other party members quickly caught Subjugator’s question. Someone who could make Judge identify the place at first glance certainly held a lot more other useful information about Level 4.

“Just a bunch of boring people who formed a small social circle in the forum. It’s only been made known to a few selected internal members. They don’t really play but like to surf the forum. And they frequently share out useful information within the circle.”

Judge’s explanation stunned the other five members.

Qin Ruo and Subjugator asked the same question simultaneously, “You’re one of them?”

Judge nodded his head mechanically. “I didn’t really have time to play before this. Plus, all the Classes I tried in the past didn’t suit my taste. So, I just wandered around the forum and happened upon those guys.”

Subjugator opened his mouth. “Wait, let me ask you this, how long have you played as a Steel Berserker?”

“Almost 40 days, more or less.”

There was silence.

Even Qin Ruo could not resist rolling his eyes this time.

‘He brought a melee character up to Level 49 under 40 days while he played alone?’

“How did you manage to train so fast?”

“Are you a monster? How could you level up so rapidly?”

Black Rock and Fateless were baffled. They started playing since the first day the game was launched, and they reached their current position after months of hard work. Then a random Steel Berserker with a new account easily surpassed them in less than 40 days… How were they supposed to feel okay about it?

“Bro, you’re trying to make us feel bad, aren’t you?”

Qin Ruo dragged everyone’s attention back to the subject as Black Rock and Fateless whined. “All right, all right, let’s not lose our focus. We should be discussing the details of Level 4 quickly. There isn’t much time left for the Amethyst Orc.”

The other five players were dazed by Qin Ruo’s notion and realized that it was not the right time for chit-chat. They had a more pressing matter to attend to at the moment.

Judge nodded and resumed his explanation, “Let me get this straight, Level 3 and Level 4 of the Graveyard of the Gods are rather different. There are only 36 regions here, and the Barren Domain is one of them. It’s also one of the most treacherous ones.

“Don’t be fooled by the lack of activity on the surface. Those Deadwood creatures are actually Flora-Type monsters. They are highly intelligent and have high attacking potency. Even for me and Subjugator, going one on one against it is extremely risky. Qin Ruo and Black Rock, you two especially have to be extra cautious. Never allow it to get within 30 m from you. Its attacks are hard to defend against, and most importantly, it uses Magic Penetration. The both of you know best what the consequences are once your barrier is breached.”

They were speechless.

Black Rock opened his mouth wide in disbelief. He pointed at the dead woods in shock as sweat began to seep out from his forehead.

‘Magic Penetration? It’s an Elementalist’s worst nightmare! And you tell me there are a bunch of them here? Sh*t!’

“Luckily we have the Amethyst Orc with us. We’ll be fine with the Amethyst Orc’s superior battle power, unless we should be so unfortunate to encounter a Boss monster.”

Speaking of that, Judge turned to Qin Ruo and asked, “How long does the Amethyst Orc have?”

“Ninety-four minutes,” Qin Ruo answered after he confirmed the time.

“Then we’ll be fine. That time is more than enough.” Judge’s tone sounded more relaxed as he continued to explain, “Each region should have at least three to four teleport points. If we’re lucky, we might come across an empty portal and enter Level 5 with ease.”

Seeing that the others were a little confused, he spoke with a grin, “A Tier 5 Elite Boss almost exhausted the Amethyst Orc; you guys aren’t planning to fight a stronger Tier 5 Overlord, right?”

‘Umm!’

The other five recalled the tough grind against Lethal Balrog and shook their heads simultaneously.

“That’s why I said what I said. Monsters that guard warp portals will at least be common Tier 5 Bosses. May God bless us if we hit the jackpot—Tier 5 Elite Boss, Overlord or something else.”

Qin Ruo wiped away the sweat on his forehead and appreciated Judge’s earnest explanation. ‘He’s quite the talker despite being rather quiet normally.’

Right then, Black Rock interjected, “Judge, is it possible to not enter the fifth level through the Barren Domain?”

“Umm, why?” Judge was puzzled.

“Damn! You said it yourself: the minions here alone are horrifying enough, much less the Bosses! What if we get killed and sent back out there? I think we should play it safe. Let’s bypass these warp portals and look for an entrance somewhere else.”

Black Rock’s suggestion was not without its concern. Qin Ruo could not deny that the Bosses around the domain may be too powerful for them since the minions were already such badasses. Most of the Tier 5 Supreme Champions were from the Elementalist Class. In the face of a Tier 5 Boss with Magic Penetration, their defenses would be easily dismantled. Thus, Qin Ruo believed that as far as he was concerned, not a single player in the game had the skillset to take down a Tier 5 Boss with Magic Penetration. As a result, chances for them to find an empty teleport point were extremely slim.

Qin Ruo voiced out his opinion and Judge immediately frowned.

“Well, it’s indeed possible to leave the Barren Domain. If we follow the wind, there will be Thundercloud Region at the end. It’s occupied by a Thunder Element Elf with freakishly high Magic Attack; if we go against it, we’ll reach the tomb. Either way, we’ll need to make a big detour and possibly walk into a rival faction party along the way.”

“There’s nothing to worry about! Rival faction? With Qin Ruo and the Amethyst Orc by our side, we’ll just kill them all!” Black Rock was electrified once he learned that there was a way to escape the terrible domain.

He turned around and asked the others, “All right, Thundercloud or Tomb?”

“Let’s go to the Tomb. The Amethyst Orc is a Thunder-Type, and the place holds no advantage over Thunder-type monsters,” Qin Ruo said as he recalled what Slayer’s Heart told him a few days ago, “Take note of structures like tombs or coffins when you’re in there…” He had not seen anything of the like along the way. ‘This is a great chance to take a good look at them.’

“Great! The Tomb Region it is!”