Chapter 54: The Cross-Dressing Game Streamer is Actually… (6)
The most frustrating part of Immortal Realm was leveling. Not only did the required experience double with every level, but dying above Level 10—whether killed by a player or a mob—meant losing 5% of your experience. Even dying in a dungeon cost 1% experience. Because of this, the game had a very real risk of being “wiped back to white” (losing all progress), as the first 10 levels were the easiest to get.
Because leveling was so difficult, even after a week, Huo Xian, who wasn’t focused on speed-leveling, had only just reached Level 20.
“Mozun, have you looked up the [Corpse Ridge] guide? Do you know the strategy?” Zhao Xiyou asked, then frowned. “This attribute point allocation of yours is…”
“Hm?” Huo Xian responded. “Haven’t had time to look at the guide yet.”
“With a Dashen like you here, it’ll definitely be fine.” Yuan De Yixin Ren had full confidence in Zhao Xiyou.
Baishou Bu Xiangli disagreed. “[Corpse Ridge] is nothing like [Wild Wolf Cave]. The number of mobs is more than double, they’re all grouped together, and their damage is high. I see the Dashen‘s roommate is decked out in green quest gear, without a single piece of blue equipment. Forget his attack power, being that squishy, won’t he be dead on the floor in minutes?”
Before Huo Xian could speak, Zhao Xiyou interjected, “I’ll make up for whatever damage Mozun is lacking. He just needs to chain crowd control with me seamlessly. The difficulty of this dungeon is just the high number of high-damage mobs. As long as we control them, it’s an easy fight.”
At Level 20, the Wan Jian Sect gained three new skills—two for group control and one for single-target control. It was currently the sect with the most crowd control abilities, capable of locking down the highest number of targets.
Zhao Xiyou had studied the guide and played a Wan Jian Sect character himself, so he knew that as long as they had two Wan Jian Sect players, this dungeon was basically a safe and painless clear. However, he was speechless when he thought about Huo Xian’s attribute points, which were dumped almost entirely into Agility. As a pure physical-attack Jianxiu (Sword Cultivator) who could moonlight as a tank when no T was present, how could he deal any damage without adding Strength? Worse, he didn’t add any Constitution either. That fragile build would be wiped out if the boss so much as grazed him twice.
“In a moment, I’ll pull a smaller group of mobs first. Mozun, save your control skills; let’s practice our coordination,” Zhao Xiyou assigned the roles. “Healer, this will be tough on you. We don’t have a T, so we’ll have to trouble you to pay close attention.”
Yin Pei’s “Jiangshan Rugu” replied with an “Okay” in the party channel.
“Healer, just focus on Mozun’s health. The Dashen‘s footwork is amazing; he barely loses any health when he’s tanking. Mozun, just make sure you don’t pull aggro. Not that you could even if you tried, haha.” Yuan De Yixin Ren called Zhao Xiyou “Dashen” in every other sentence; it was clear she really worshiped him.
“Meow meow meow…” [Huo Xian, get in there, pull the aggro, and chop down all the mobs!] Huo Yuan was a loyal Xian-chui and couldn’t stand anyone putting him down.
Huo Xian took a moment to rub Huo Yuan’s little head. [If he wants to show off, let him show off. There’s no need to fight him for it. Why bother trying so hard when I can just coast and pick up the quest item?] Once he got the item, he would just solo the dungeon again to get the experience and attribute point rewards.
Huo Yuan tilted his little head, having arrived at the same conclusion. [In that case, I’ll help you gather the data first. You can use it when you solo the dungeon for attribute points later.]
To be fair, while Huo Xian wasn’t fond of Zhao Xiyou’s personality, he had to admit the guy was genuinely good at the game. Unlike his own agility-focused build, Zhao Xiyou went for a balanced route. A balanced build was typically the hardest to master but also the most common. Played well, you were an expert; played poorly, you were a caiji (noob). Clearly, Zhao Xiyou belonged to the former category.
Huo Xian quietly watched him show off his mechanics, coasting whenever possible and using agile positioning to save the healer… en, Jiangshan Rugu (Yin Pei), some effort.
In less than fifteen minutes, the five of them had cleared all the mobs and were standing in front of the boss. Before pulling, Zhao Xiyou explained the boss’s skills, specifically emphasizing to Huo Xian: “When the boss uses ‘Poison Gas,’ you absolutely must get behind it, otherwise it’ll stack a poison debuff that drains your health. You’re pretty squishy right now, so stacking up poison will be a lot of trouble.”
“Okay, I got it,” Huo Xian replied.
“Jiangshan, sorry to trouble you, please focus on my health. Thanks,” Zhao Xiyou added politely.
With preparations complete, Zhao Xiyou pulled the boss.
While game dungeon bosses had a certain level of difficulty, they weren’t hard to beat once you mastered the mechanics. The [Corpse Ridge] boss was even less impressive than the wolf boss that summoned mobs; its only advantage was a massive health bar. The four of them wailed on it for eleven minutes before finally killing it.
“My god, our damage output is too low. My hand is about to cramp up from mashing skills,” Yuan De Yixin Ren complained under her breath.
Baishou Bu Xiangli immediately chimed in: “Roommate bro, you really need to upgrade your gear, or you’ll definitely get flamed by your teammates in the next dungeon.” He was one step short of just saying, “Your damage is too low,” though there wasn’t much difference.
“Planning on it.” Huo Xian wasn’t angry and replied good-naturedly.
The couple didn’t say any more. Next was loot distribution. The boss dropped a healer necklace and a blue-quality chest piece, usable by all physical classes.
In the party, only Huo Xian and Zhao Xiyou could use it. Huo Xian was originally going to say he just needed the quest item, but Zhao Xiyou spoke first: “Mozun, let’s roll for it.”
Huo Xian didn’t refuse. After all, he had contributed a little bit of effort.
“Come on, little ancestor, give me a lucky touch.” Huo Xian picked up Huo Yuan and placed his little paw on the Enter key.
Huo “Little Ancestor” Yuan gave him a baleful look and protested: [Stop giving me nicknames all the time.]
Huo Xian didn’t respond, just motioned for him to roll quickly.
[Mozun]: 100 points.
Zhao Xiyou: “…”
“This little ancestor’s luck is really something…” Zhao Xiyou glanced at Huo Yuan the cat with a complicated expression. When both the bullet chat and his teammates asked who the “little ancestor” was, he replied with a laugh, “It’s my roommate’s cat. That little kitty just rolled the points for him. Forget it, I won’t even bother rolling. A feiqiu (unlucky person) like me isn’t worthy.” As he spoke, he deftly assigned the equipment to Huo Xian, his demeanor perfectly casual.
Huo Yuan complained: [It’s not like the game lacks a free-for-all loot option; the system just rolls the dice. You lost the roll, and now you’re acting like the good guy? How cha (two-faced).]
Huo Xian was amused by him, but his laugh barely lasted two seconds before he heard Yuan De Yixin Ren complaining on Zhao Xiyou’s behalf in the party chat: “The Dashen did so much of the work; he should be the one to get it.”
“Don’t say that. Mozun helped me with crowd control, which saved me a lot of effort. Besides, we’re a five-man team running a dungeon; whoever gets the equipment just depends on luck. There’s no ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ about it.” Zhao Xiyou chuckled, then shot Huo Xian a real-life heart sign, motioning for him not to worry about it.
Huo Xian naturally didn’t mind. No matter how good Level 20 blue gear was, it would be obsolete in a week at most. It didn’t make much difference whether he had it or not. For now, it would just add a little extra attack power when he went back to solo the dungeon.
“Huo… Mozun, want to go do the sect quests together?” Zhao Xiyou invited.
Huo Xian politely declined: “I’m going to practice my positioning for a bit first. I’ll head to the sect later.”
“Alright, then I’ll go do the main story quest first. Oh, right, you can stay in the party or leave, it’s up to you. Jiangshan and the others are my friends, we can run dungeons together again in the future.” Zhao Xiyou said, looking out for him.
“Mhm,” Huo Xian replied, then exited the dungeon and reset it.
Immortal Realm‘s 5-man dungeons only had 2 lockouts (CDs) per day, so relying on them to grind experience wasn’t really feasible. This made the open world a hotly contested area. However, Immortal Realm had harsh death penalties—you’d lose both experience and equipment. After Level 20, half a day of questing might not even get you 5% of a level. Getting killed by another player once was heartbreaking. Therefore, the open world was, in a way, peaceful despite the conflict.
But I digress…
[Huo Xian, are you going to clear the mobs?] Huo Yuan asked, seeing Huo Xian had entered the dungeon again.
Huo Xian replied: [Of course. The mobs give decent experience; it’s a waste to leave them.]
[Oh, then good luck.] Huo Yuan cheered him on.
Huo Xian returned his cheer with a smile.
He muted the party voice chat, opened a music app, picked a gufeng (ancient-style) channel, and started playing music. Then, he began to maneuver his character to clear the mobs at an unhurried pace. If Zhao Xiyou had leaned over to look at his screen, he would have been utterly astonished. The [Mozun] on the screen was clearing mobs at an unbelievable speed. A pack of four mobs that originally took their five-man team a minute to clear, he finished by himself in only one minute and twenty seconds. The crowd control that Zhao Xiyou needed him to seamlessly chain, he was handling all by himself in between his other skills.
Twenty minutes later, he was standing in front of the Corpse Ridge boss. At the same time, he received a private message.
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: You’re running Corpse Ridge?
Huo Xian guessed Yin Pei had probably recognized his undisguised voice.
[Whisper][Mozun]: M-hm
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: You’re soloing it?
[Whisper][Mozun]: M-hm
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: …
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: Without a T or a healer?
[Whisper][Mozun]: Do you see me losing any health?
He hadn’t. Not only had he not lost any health in the last half hour, but even when the five of them were running it earlier, Huo Xian hadn’t lost a single drop. The other three in the party might not have realized it, but Huo Xian himself and the healer, who was staring at everyone’s health bars, knew. Throughout the entire dungeon run, Huo Xian’s healing received was 0.
Yin Pei didn’t message him again for a long time. By the time he did, Huo Xian had already knocked the boss’s health below 20%.
After Level 20, characters automatically gained a damage buff: the higher the basic combo count, the damage would progressively increase by 1.5x. In other words, the more combos you landed, the more explosive your damage became. Of course, “basic combo” didn’t refer to basic attacks, but to the most fundamental skill, [Cloud-Piercing Sword], which only had a global cooldown (GCD). The skill cost 1% mana to use, but once the combo count reached 20, it stopped consuming mana and instead restored 0.5% mana with every subsequent hit.
If Huo Xian had been streaming at this moment, even if he only used 20% of his mana in exchange for a huge burst of damage, the fans in his stream would likely be marveling at his combo count.
When the boss fell, Huo Xian checked the drops. Seeing the familiar attribute point book, he felt a sense of relief.
“Mew.” Just as he was about to pocket it, Huo Yuan jumped onto his hand to stop him. Huo Yuan said: [You’re still in the party. You don’t have permission to loot items.]
Only then did Huo Xian remember the party’s loot distribution mode. He didn’t hesitate, just turned on his mic and said, “Tianxia, I’m going to leave the party first.”
“What’s with that? Coming and going as he pleases…” Yuan De Yixin Ren immediately complained.
“Xinxin!” Baishou Bu Xiangli cut her off.
Yuan De Yixin Ren went silent after that. Huo Xian twitched the corner of his mouth, not bothering to argue with her, and left the party directly.
Zhao Xiyou muted his mic and said, a little embarrassed, “…Bro, don’t be mad. Yixinren doesn’t really mean any harm.”
Huo Xian wasn’t sure whether to correct his form of address or to say he didn’t mind Yuan De Yixin Ren, so he just said: “It’s fine.”
Seeing that Huo Xian truly didn’t seem to mind, Zhao Xiyou unmuted his mic. Yuan De Yixin Ren was one of his fans and had gifted him a lot. As a game streamer, occasionally carrying one of your “bosses” (sponsors) was normal, but this particular boss was indeed a bit spoiled.
Sigh, just trying to make a living.
Over on his end, Huo Xian finally saw the message Yin Pei had sent earlier.
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: Need a healer for the boss?
The implication was that if he needed help, Yin Pei could come and fight it with him.
[Whisper][Mozun]: Boss is dead
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: …
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: You can solo it just by yourself??
[Whisper][Mozun]: A dungeon this simple, is it hard to solo?
[Whisper][Jiangshan Rugu]: …
Yin Pei was speechless for a moment. Moreover, he was now starting to have doubts about the “Huo Xian” who was using his computer and account. Between the voice and the “Huo” that [Qie Jian Tianxia] had unintentionally let slip, [Mozun] was the one he truly cared about. If [Mozun] was Huo Xian, then was [Qie Jian Tianxia]… Zhao Xiyou?
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