Chapter 59: Chef Lu

Once again, the group was locked in fierce battle. However, the NPC knight charged forward at an incredible speed, just barely escaping the area affected by Grease and Entangling Roots. With a gleam of ferocity in his eyes, he raised his heavy warhammer and rushed straight for Lu Kuan, who stood several meters away!

“Oh no!”

Dai Guang’s heart skipped a beat. Everyone knew that a ranger’s greatest weakness was close combat; if a heavily armored class like a knight got close, things could go disastrously wrong!

The same thought flashed through the minds of the other two classmates. While fending off their own opponents, they stole a glance in Lu Kuan’s direction. What they saw shocked them so much that their mouths hung open in astonishment.

Backed into a corner by the knight, Lu Kuan showed no sign of slowing down. Instead, he dashed straight towards the towering trial arena wall, several meters high!

At the very moment he neared the wall, Lu Kuan leapt, planting his feet against the surface and vaulting high. With a powerful kick, he flipped backward in a somersault, soaring over the holy knight’s head who was hot on his heels.

Landing smoothly, Lu Kuan rolled a few times to absorb the impact, sprang up, and took off running. Without missing a beat, he turned and fired a Concussive Arrow at the NPC paladin—seizing the initiative in battle once again!

Witnessing this, Dai Guang and the others found themselves growing numb to surprise.

Lu Kuan’s fighting style today completely overturned their impressions of “Echoes of the Gods.” It felt as if he was playing an entirely different game.

“How is he shooting so fast?”

“How is his damage so high?”

“His hit rate is unbelievable!”

“And he can shoot while running!?”

Once Lu Kuan started moving, the paladin found it impossible to catch up. The distance between them widened with every second. The NPC paladin tried to turn back to his teammates, but it was already too late.

Lu Kuan used the spare moments to restore his energy almost fully, then unleashed a burst of attacks that finished off the paladin.

Having lost two members, the NPC team was doomed. A few minutes later, their priest fell to a single Moonfire from the allied druid, and the five-member NPC team was completely wiped out!

“Congratulations, players, you have passed the second trial.”

“Advancement quest complete!”

A simple system notification flashed in the team channel. Dai Guang’s own notifications were clearly more extensive. He bowed his head in delight and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Hahaha! We did it! I’m finally about to advance to Spellward Priest! Hahaha!”

His classmates were just as elated, gathering to offer their congratulations. The ordeal was finally over; if it had gone on much longer, everyone would have been driven to the brink of collapse.

“All right, let’s hurry and turn in the quest,” Lu Kuan said with a smile, walking over from the distance.

No one objected. Laughing and chatting, they left the trial arena together, then accompanied Dai Guang to the Radiant Sanctuary to turn in the quest. As he received his shiny new class emblem, golden light swirled around him, and he advanced smoothly to level 11.

Dai Guang had chosen to become a Spellward Priest, which reduced his healing abilities but greatly enhanced his other support skills. The most notable feature of the Spellward Priest was their mastery in summoning extraplanar creatures to assist themselves or their team in battle.

This advancement was Lu Kuan’s suggestion.

In the coming years, the game would never lack heal-focused priests, but support-type priests would be extremely rare. As long as Dai Guang put in the effort to improve his gameplay, countless teams and guilds would vie for his talents in the future.

“Chubby, now that we’re done with the quest, I’ll be off. I have some things to do,” Lu Kuan checked the time and said.

“Need a hand? I’m a newly advanced high-level player now!” Dai Guang puffed out his chest proudly.

“Haha, is that so!”

Lu Kuan laughed, giving Dai Guang’s ample chest a friendly punch. “Actually, I do have to head out of the city soon. If you’re free, come along.”

“Sure, let’s go!” Dai Guang replied enthusiastically.

After bidding farewell to the others, the two turned and hurried away. Only Li Ming lingered at a distance. Once Lu Kuan and Dai Guang had gone, he approached, his expression complicated, lost in thought.

Not just Li Ming—everyone present was weighed down by their own concerns.

Lu Kuan had nearly completed the advancement quest single-handedly, a task that had troubled them for so long. And judging by his demeanor, it was as if this was nothing more than a trivial matter.

“The look on Lu Kuan’s face... he didn’t seem to be faking it. Is this really the old classmate I knew?” they all found themselves wondering.

...

As Lu Kuan walked, he glanced at the quest log in his inventory.

“Bigger Backpack (B+)

Mitchell is a demanding master tailor. Since you’ve asked her to craft a backpack for you, be prepared for her ‘demanding’ standards.

First, collect some basic materials: 20 stacks of thick hides, 10 spools of sturdy silk thread, and most importantly, 20 stalks of quality 7 or higher Shadowgrass. With these, Master Mitchell can create the main body of the magic backpack.

Oh, and don’t skimp on time or money. If the quality of the Shadowgrass isn’t high enough, even a master like Mitchell might fail in making the backpack properly~”

Though brief, the quest log conveyed a wealth of information. The most important—and most easily overlooked—detail was the quality of the Shadowgrass.

The log warned that subpar quality could cause the quest to fail. But on the other hand, if you managed to find high-quality Shadowgrass, the final backpack could be upgraded from “10 slots” to “12 slots”!

Lu Kuan had read about this in forum posts from top players in his previous life—firsthand experiences shared by others.

Who would even think of such a thing?

Herbs and ores in the game had quality ratings from 1 to 10. A single stalk of Shadowgrass, a rare herb, could cost ten times as much at quality 8 or 9 compared to lower grades!

Ordinarily, using materials just sufficient to complete the quest was enough. Besides, the quest log made no mention of bonus rewards, so who would waste top-quality Shadowgrass on a quest like this?

“Shadowgrass? Never heard of it,” Dai Guang admitted, bewildered.

Lu Kuan chuckled. “Of course you haven’t. It’s very rare. There are one or two stalks in the auction house, but their quality isn’t up to par. So we’ll have to find it ourselves. Come on—let’s pick up a quest first.”

Dai Guang naturally followed Lu Kuan’s lead. They walked along the main road until they reached a large tavern. Heading straight into the kitchen, they found the tavern’s chef, Aaron.

“Watch how I do this first,” Lu Kuan whispered to Dai Guang. Then, approaching Aaron, he exchanged a few words, paid ten silver coins, and learned the Cooking skill from the chef.

Every player knew they could learn Cooking for free in the city’s lord’s kitchen. But Aaron, for a fee, would “kindly” teach players an extra tier-one recipe: Charcoal-Smoked Softshell Crab.

This recipe was unique to Aaron and couldn’t be learned from regular cooking trainers—though, of course, Lu Kuan’s aim went far beyond this simple dish.