Chapter Fifty-Three: Opening the Treasure Chest

Wind and Cloud showed no restraint and opened the treasure chest. He then displayed a shield.

Perfect Refined Steel Shield: Defense 960, Health 4600, Strength 86, Special Effect 1: Unshakable as a Mountain; Special Effect 2: Blessing of Life. Equipment Level: 20, Durability: 100/100.

Unshakable as a Mountain: With this effect, the user cannot be knocked back.

Blessing of Life: Increases maximum health by three percent.

“Wow, the secretary is in luck—a level twenty red shield, that’s powerful.”

“Indeed, just the defense alone is nearly a thousand, plus over four thousand health, and those effects—raising max health. That’s impressive.”

“Too bad he didn’t get a Spiritual Artifact.”

“Spiritual Artifacts are almost impossible to get, the odds are only one in ten thousand.”

“Yeah, the probability is just too low.”

“There were only two four-star chests in total—one for the boss, and one for the runner-up, the War God Lü Bu. I wonder if he got a Spiritual Artifact?”

“No way he's that lucky, not with those odds.”

“I’ll ask him, I know him pretty well,” said Wind and Cloud’s Blade.

A short while later, Wind and Cloud’s Blade returned with a smug look and said, “That fool got the same as me, just an orange material, not even equipment. Nowhere near as good as the boss’s red shield.”

“Damn, this treasure chest mechanism is a scam. The second place on the rankings only gets an orange material? That’s enough to make you cough blood.”

“Anything above orange equipment is hard to get, but there’ll definitely be a lot of purple gear this time.”

“Of course! With so many people playing the game, and each with a one in ten thousand chance, it’s not surprising if ten thousand purple items drop today.”

“Purple gear is going to drop in price again. I’m still wearing a full set of purple, and now it’ll instantly become common gear.”

“We’ll have to farm bosses for upgrades, or there’s no way to keep up. At least by level twenty, we should have a full set of orange gear.”

“Definitely need to kill more bosses. Leveling can wait, but gear must keep up.”

“First, assign people to guard all four city gates. If you see anyone from the Heaven and Earth Guild, report it. Organize a team to hunt them down. We must drive them out of Dangyang City and force them to another city. I don’t want them sharing a city with us—it’s disgusting.”

Wind and Cloud still remembered what the Heaven and Earth Guild had done—they’d gone too far.

“Boss, let me handle it. Our guild has plenty of people now. I’ll assign two hundred to keep an eye on Heaven and Earth Guild. If they dare leave the city, we’ll cut them down.”

Wind and Cloud’s Blade eagerly volunteered. Berserker players all loved PK battles; he couldn’t wait for the excitement.

“Two hundred might not be enough; Heaven and Earth Guild has over two hundred people too. Why don’t we all go?”

“No need. We’ll pull two hundred people off leveling for a couple of days, focus entirely on them. They’ll have to leave eventually.”

“True. If they dare fight us head-on, never mind their past as a top ten guild—if they can’t level up or get good gear, they’ll be nobodies in the gaming world.”

“Exactly. Just let Blade lead the team and kill them a few more times. They’ll leave for another city to develop. As long as they don’t mess with us, they can do whatever they want.”

Wind and Cloud assigned the task to Blade, who immediately started recruiting in the guild channel. With a single call, responses poured in.

Gamers were always full of energy—when they heard there’d be a big PK fight, everyone wanted to join. Hardly anyone was like Zhang Shan, content to quietly farm monsters.

“I’m off to block the gates,” said Blade, and teleported away.

“All right, everyone disperse. If you want to farm or hunt bosses, find your own teams,” Wind and Cloud announced, then disbanded the party.

The event was over, but leveling up had to continue—level was king.

“Hey, wait a minute. The Artifact Master hasn’t opened his chest yet. Don’t you want to know what he’ll get? Maybe a divine item,” Wind Chime teased.

“I don’t want to know—I can’t take the blow. I’m leaving. Don’t tell me unless he gets a white item.”

“Yeah, if he gets a white item, let us know so we can have a laugh.”

Zhang Shan was speechless. What kind of people were these? Couldn’t they wish him a little luck?

“Do you think my Panda pet could open the chest for me? It has high luck, so maybe the odds for good items would be better.”

Zhang Shan hadn’t opened his chest yet and was wondering if this was possible.

“Keep dreaming! How shameless can you get?”

“Exactly! That’s impossible. Once you take the chest out, it’s in your backpack—you can’t put it on the ground, so how would your pet open it?”

“Maybe the Artifact Master is thinking of stuffing his pet into his backpack to open it for him.”

“What, you can’t take the chest out?”

Zhang Shan really didn’t know that. He’d thought you could place the chest on the ground and open it.

No wonder before, he’d only heard them talk about what they got, never actually saw the chests.

So they were opened inside the backpack, and only the results appeared before the character.

He’d been overthinking it.

Forget it—his luck was already at nine, which was pretty high. He shouldn’t be too unlucky.

“I’m going to open it now. I don’t expect a divine item, just a red piece of equipment would be nice.”

Zhang Shan announced. Some people had already teleported away, but most were still waiting to see what he would get.

After opening the chest in his backpack, nothing unusual appeared before Zhang Shan—no flashes of light or special effects.

Damn, did he really get a white item?

He quickly checked his backpack and noticed an extra skill book. Must have come from the chest, since he didn’t have any skill books before.

“Artifact Master, don’t tell me you really got a white item. That’s just too much—this is the top prize.”

“Heh, it’s possible. The chance to get a divine item is one in ten thousand—no one said you couldn’t get a white item.”

“That can’t be, right? Artifact Master, what did you get? Even if it’s a white item, let us see.”

“It’s a skill book,” Zhang Shan replied happily.

“Huh? Treasure chests can give skill books?”

“Yeah, I heard someone got one before, but the odds are much lower than for equipment.”

“What skill, which class? Show us.”

Zhang Shan displayed the skill book.

Berserk: Level 1. Removes all control effects and grants immunity to control skills for the duration of Berserk. During Berserk, damage taken is doubled, but attack power and speed are increased by two percent. Duration: one second. Cooldown: five minutes. Class requirement: Universal.

“Damn, that skill is awesome—resists control, boosts attack and speed, just a bit short on duration.”

“It’s not that short. At level one, it’s one second; higher levels should last longer.”

“That skill is crazy, but after using Berserk you’ll be more fragile—damage taken is doubled. You’d better time it right, or you’ll get killed the moment you go Berserk.”

“Compared to being controlled, that’s nothing. The key is, it’s universal for all classes. Why haven’t we heard of this skill before?”

“Maybe it’s a rare late-game skill. There aren’t many control skills out yet, so it’s odd for a cleanse skill to appear so soon. The Artifact Master is always ahead of everyone else.”

“Yeah, he’s so far ahead, the system can barely keep up with him.”

Zhang Shan was delighted with this skill. As long as he wasn’t controlled, he feared no one, no matter how many came at him.

His attack was high, his range was long—no one could get close enough to cut him down unless he was controlled and mobbed.

After learning Berserk, he had five skill points left and raised it to level five. With more points, he could max it out later.

At level five, Berserk lasted five seconds and increased attack power and speed by ten percent—a huge boost.