Chapter 313 - 203: His Front Teeth Are Glowing

[Current Candidate Candle Spirits: 7/10]

Li Miao glanced at it, then looked away. He shot a look at Shore, who was standing beside him, and sneered.

"What the—?" Shore flared up. "What’s that supposed to mean, kid? You looking for trouble?"

Seeing this, Li Miao put on a show of shaking his head and sighing. "Sigh... if even a scrub like you can get in, I’m afraid our chances on this mission are looking pretty slim..."

"Fuck! Li Miao, you little shit, get your ass over here and fight me one-on-one! I, a great Mage, will show you the true power of a Mage!"

Shore leaped to his feet and ran to the side, yelling provocatively at Li Miao.

Li Miao, not one to back down, fired right back. The bickering pair quickly started trading insults, adding a bit of liveliness to the waiting area.

Meanwhile, Faraway was sitting cross-legged in a corner, silently inspecting the weapons, equipment, and special items in front of him. He seemed to be contemplating his strategy.

Compared to him, the others were a bit bored.

"Those two are certainly... spirited individuals," Skyrim said with a helpless laugh.

THUD.

With a dull thud, Brother Mangzi hoisted his large hammer onto his shoulder and looked at him curiously. "Brother Skyrim, which boss did you fight? You got in here so fast. I remember you haven’t been playing this game for very long, right?"

"Elegy of Death," Skyrim replied humbly. "I just didn’t get caught by the boss and fail a Dodge. It was just a stroke of luck."

"Sigh, I’m so jealous of you skilled players."

Black Mountain Little Demon, who was standing nearby, sighed and joined the conversation.

"Unlike me, I can only rely on overwhelming them with numbers and items..."

Brother Mangzi rolled his eyes at that.

’This Little Demon makes it sound nice,’ he thought, ’but this guy is even more outrageous than the skilled players. He’s pure Krypton Gold, throwing around items and Magic Pearls like they’re free. He just brute-forces bosses to death...’

But, speaking of Mushroom...

"Huh? Niuniu, what’s Mushroom up to? He hasn’t cleared the stage yet, why don’t I see him?"

Brother Mangzi looked around but couldn’t spot Mushroom’s signature ugly-faced character.

"Of course you don’t see him; he never planned on coming," Niuniu shrugged. "Someone found new plant seeds in the sea a while back, so he’s been holed up in the Demon-Harboring Cottage all day researching new recipes..."

Before the Demon-Harboring Cottage was introduced, Mushroom was a passionate adventurer, with maybe a bit of a hoarding gene at most.

But ever since the Demon-Harboring Cottage appeared, Mushroom has become a down-to-earth old farmer with hoarding tendencies. He spends all his time researching various Magic Potions and publishing guides...

So, forget about competitive regional wars like this; he rarely even runs dungeons anymore.

BZZZT—

Just then, a new commotion came from the Teleportation Gate.

Amidst a ripple in space, a seemingly unremarkable, half-masked player in a Light Armor set slowly walked in, drawing everyone’s attention.

His ID puzzled everyone present.

Of course, it wasn’t because his ID was particularly bizarre or against the rules.

It was because none of them had any recollection of the ID "Wax Scrap."

Even later players like Black Mountain Little Demon and Skyrim, despite having joined the game more recently, were at least names people had heard of.

But this player? They had truly never heard of him at all.

"Huh?" Niuniu scratched his head, looking at the others in confusion. "Are newbies these days all so strong? Gaining this kind of power without anyone noticing?"

Following his gaze, Brother Mangzi and Black Mountain Little Demon also shook their heads, indicating they didn’t recognize him either.

The others clearly didn’t seem to know this player either.

If no one recognized him, he was most likely a former newbie who had powered up on his own.

"Hey, brother." Just then, Li Miao popped up and enthusiastically extended a hand to the new player. "Clearing the Mysterious High Platform dungeon in such a short time, that’s amazing! If I run into trouble later, you’ve gotta give me a hand, man."

"The number one player from launch saying this to a newbie like me? You’re flattering me."

"Wax Scrap" shook his hand and replied with a smile.

"Tch, cut the crap. We’re all bros here," Shore chimed in, sidling up to them.

"Get the hell out. What’s a scumbag Mage like you butting in for? Scram." Li Miao kicked him away, then turned back with a broad smile to introduce Wax Scrap to the others.

Before long, all the players present had become acquainted with this rising star, "Wax Scrap."

Li Miao completely ignored Shore, and soon, he was enthusiastically calling him "Brother Jiao" and chatting away. The group gradually grew familiar with each other.

As time went on, two more players successfully cleared the Mysterious High Platform and arrived in the waiting area.

These two newcomers were also old acquaintances to everyone there.

"Sitting and Not Forgetting the Dao" and "Bron Really Not Deaf."

Forgotten Dao had clearly gone and farmed a ton of Wax Oil to upgrade himself; otherwise, with both Elegy of Death and Fission Scream having AoE damage, it would have been highly unlikely for him to pass.

As for Brother Mangzi, he was naturally delighted by Bu Long’s arrival.

With Bu Long as a partner, their combat power would increase by at least a whole tier.

"Hey, don’t tell me you killed the boss just by reflecting its damage, did you?" Brother Mangzi nudged Bu Long with his elbow.

"How could I?" Bu Long shrugged. "Both bosses on the Mysterious High Platform deal Magic damage. I can’t reflect damage even if I take a hit."

"I used Block."

"Oh... what?" Brother Mangzi froze for a moment, his pupils constricting. He stared at him in disbelief. "You mean you killed the boss just by using Block?"

Brother Mangzi’s voice was a bit loud, and for a moment, everyone’s attention was focused on them.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Bu Long got a little embarrassed. "No, I’d take the opportunity to slash them once after every Block. I could occasionally land a Lethal Strike, too..."

"...Fucking awesome." Li Miao was the first to give a thumbs-up, and the others reacted similarly.

To be honest, Block was an Ability many players used, but very few used it well.

Furthermore, while Block didn’t have a probability limit like Dodge, a successful Block didn’t mean you took zero damage.

More importantly, you couldn’t beat the bosses in Spirit Candle just by memorizing their moves. A single boss’s same type of attack could have wildly different attack speeds, a point that many players constantly complained about...

Players were already as fragile as paper in front of bosses. It would be one thing if every Block was successful, but if even one failed, you were likely to be branded a ’scrub’.

Therefore, to play a Block-focused build, you not only had to practice Blocking but also had to stack the Constitution Attribute. This, naturally, meant your own damage was pitiful...

For all these reasons combined, very few people played "Block builds."

Under these circumstances, one could only imagine how impressive Bu Long’s feat of clearing the stage with Block was.

It was worth mentioning.

Block could be used not only with a Shield, but also with various Weapons.

But... the success rate of using a Shield was already frighteningly low, let alone using a Weapon.

Weapon Blocking was a move that even Faraway didn’t use, because his current body’s reaction time simply couldn’t handle it...

"You must’ve gotten beaten up so many times..." Niuniu clicked his tongue in amazement. "Even at the lowest pain setting, it can’t feel good. You’ve got some serious willpower."

Hearing this, Bu Long’s back suddenly straightened a bit.

"I may have it set to 80% pain, but..."

"It doesn’t hurt!"

He grinned, flicking his thumb up in front of his pectoral muscle. Every muscle in his body seemed to tremble.

"Only by being there in the moment can you feel the true charm of defending with a Shield!"

"..."

Li Miao and Shore were so shocked their jaws nearly hit the floor.

"I feel like his front teeth are glowing..." Black Mountain Little Demon couldn’t help but comment.

"Where there’s a will, there’s a way."

’There are truly so many hidden masters in this world!’

Skyrim thought to himself.

At this point, the number of people in the waiting area had reached ten, and a new message refreshed in the information panel.

[The maximum number of Candidate Candle Spirits has been reached.]

[A special regional war is about to begin!]

Beside the Milestone Spirit Candle, Candlefire gathered, and the figure of the Candlekeeper materialized...