Chapter 17: Elemental Orb Tactics

“Ah, Sister Chen, shouldn’t we be done here? These Half-Deer are no longer a match for us; we can easily dispatch them.”

Xingxing, clutching the ‘Antler Spear’ she had retrieved from a Half-Deer corpse, thrust it into a nearby Half-Deer, instantly killing it.

“The experience these monsters grant is still far too meager. If we only kill these Half-Deer, seven days won’t be nearly enough to reach level 200. Even hitting level 150 would be a struggle, wouldn’t it?”

“Heh heh! Take this, Sky-Piercing Fist! Fly, little deerling!”

Chen Lili was in high spirits, thoroughly immersed in the thrill of battle. She wasn’t fighting bare-handed anymore; instead, she wielded the ‘Tiger Claw Gauntlets’ dropped by a Level 65 tiger. While their damage certainly couldn’t compare to the ‘Antler Spear,’ she simply adored the visceral sensation of fist meeting flesh, effectively transforming a perfectly good RPG into a fighting game.

“What? Oh, right. The monster levels here are still a bit low, and the experience they give is too little. With enough healing items, it’s high time we ventured further!”

“You’re absolutely right. I think we should at least be fighting Level 100 monsters to ensure our experience gain doesn’t fall behind. We haven’t encountered Hank or Kabasiji at all along the way; perhaps they’ve already gone deep into the forest to grind levels!”

Xue Hu, idly toying with the ‘Blaze Orb’ in her hand, raised a wooden board to ‘speak’.

“These orbs actually deal quite high damage, and their effects are excellent. It’s a pity they’re consumables; otherwise, we could probably just pelt the Azure Dragon to death with them.”

The three had already experimented with the orbs’ effects while fighting monsters.

Although the prerequisite for using these orbs was to first learn a specific magic affinity, the trio discovered that not only had they spawned at Level 100, but they had also inherently mastered all the necessary conditions for casting magic.

This saved the players a considerable amount of time; otherwise, they would have had to return to the village to learn these prerequisites, which would have been a significant time sink.

Each time a monster dropped orbs, it was usually around five. The orbs only had a channeling cooldown (TL Note: A ‘channeling cooldown’ refers to the brief delay required to prepare and cast the orb, distinct from a skill cooldown that prevents repeated use of the same ability.), not a skill cooldown, so theoretically, they could be continuously thrown until one ran out of mana.

“Well, then, let’s just farm more orbs. I have a suggestion,” Chen Lili mused, then spoke, “we find monsters that drop orbs, then use those orbs to obliterate a whole group, and just repeat that endlessly. That way, leveling up will be fast, the orbs will keep spawning, and with a few mana potions, it’ll be almost perpetual motion!”

“But, Sister Lili, haven’t you noticed? These orbs are categorized by elemental attributes. Firstly, the Five Elements mutually restrain each other, and then there’s light and darkness, which also mutually restrain.”

“Beyond that, monsters of a certain attribute possess high resistance to magic of the same attribute. For instance, using a Wood-element orb against a Wood-element monster will inflict negligible damage.”

Xue Hu pointed out, hitting the nail on the head.

“Therefore, trying to farm the same type of monster with the orbs they drop is unfeasible. We absolutely must farm according to elemental counter-attributes to level up quickly.”

“Ah? Is that how it is? So troublesome! Then, what attribute is the Azure Dragon?”

Chen Lili scratched her head in frustration, saying, “Ultimately, we need to capture the Azure Dragon, so wouldn’t it be best to just find orbs that counter its attribute? We could just farm a few thousand of those orbs in advance, and once we reach the appropriate level, we’ll just hurl them all at it. Wouldn’t that work?”

“The Azure Dragon, by conventional logic, should be Wood attribute. If the game hasn’t altered this, then the Metal attribute is its strongest counter.”

Xue Hu thought aloud, writing, “Farming a stack of Metal-attribute orbs would indeed be excellent. However, to farm Metal-attribute monsters, we’d need Fire-attribute orbs. Fire-attribute orbs have a wide area of effect and high damage, so I think our best course of action is to first farm a large quantity of Fire-attribute orbs. This would also expedite the farming of Metal-attribute monsters.”

“So, where can we find Fire-attribute monsters? And do either of you have any better ideas?”

Chen Lili glanced at Xue Hu’s suggestion, then immediately inquired, “If we’re to farm Fire-attribute monsters, won’t we need Water-attribute orbs? Wouldn’t that mean we’d have to farm Water-attribute monsters first?”

“No,” Xue Hu shook her head, continuing to write, “many Water-attribute orbs come with healing magic, so their damage isn’t high, making their monster-farming efficiency too low. My recommendation to farm Fire-attribute monsters first is purely because Fire-attribute orbs are highly efficient for farming, and Fire-attribute monsters generally have the lowest health and thinnest defenses among all monster types.”

“While we were grinding monsters earlier, I spotted a Fire Fox tribe in the eastern forest. The Fire Fox Mages there drop these ‘Blaze Orbs,’ which are far more effective than ‘Blaze Nuts.’ Those monsters are only around Level 75, so they aren’t difficult to farm, and since they’re a communal species, we can clear them out very quickly.”

“A Fire Fox tribe? Are you going to kill your own kind now?” Chen Lili joked to Xue Hu.

“Well, let’s settle on that then. We’ll hurry and farm Fire-attribute orbs, ideally a few hundred of them, and then we’ll find a horde of Metal-attribute monsters to bombard.”

“I hardly consider these dim-witted creatures my kin.”

Xue Hu shrugged. The monster AI here was incredibly limited; they were clearly low-level creatures, devoid of even a single easter egg or side plot, simply standing idly when players weren’t around.

Then again, it was understandable. This was an old game from over a decade ago; why would monsters need so many easter eggs?

However, this was a remastered version; perhaps it wasn’t entirely as players imagined. Who could say?