MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian

‘Ding! You have completed the quest: Fixing the Magic Mirror. Obtained 1,000,000 Experience Points!’

Shaenita raised her gaze to Zhang Yang and praised him. ”You have done your part, adventurer. It is my turn to fulfill my end of the bargain. I will lend you the Mirror of Truth, however, you must return it back to me within 10 days!”

The man in the mirror turned around to observe the person who was about to receive his aid and was shocked to see the same person who was responsible for his demise! ”Oh! My beloved queen! T-T-That man! Please don’t let him take me! He was the reason! He was the person! He was the one responsible for my death!”

Zhang Yang picked up the mirror and grinned evilly while meeting the mirror’s gaze directly. ”If I were you, I’d be grateful to have been revived in the first place, instead of basking in your narcissism. Or, should I find another stone to wreck your body once more?”

The man in the mirror fill silent when he saw that even Shaenita, his owner, had remained quiet and ignorant to his plea.

‘Ding! You have obtained the item: Mirror of Truth!’

‘Ding! You are now affected with the {Item Return} effect. Lasts for 10 days. All attributes will be permanently reduced by 100% upon failure to return the Mirror of Truth after the stipulated duration.’

Zhang Yang skipped past the warnings and checked the mirror’s properties whilst leaving the palace.

[Mirror of Truth] (Quest Item)

Use: Dispels all Black Magic within the vicinity.

”Hey listen up! I’m not just some random Celestial item that can be found all around the world, so you best consider yourself fortunate enough to even talk to me! That being said, I expect you to handle me with extreme care! Furthermore, I demand that you serve me my favorite Energy Crystals! They had better the best of quality or else—HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU—Watch your hands! Where are you touching!”

Annoyed, Zhang Yang kept the blabbering mirror into his inventory and it was immediately silenced.

”Sigh…what a long day…” Zhang Yang stretched himself out and summoned the white bear to ride towards Lagguda. Again, once he stepped foot inside the border of the small desolated town, the atmosphere grew heavy and the air was shrouded with a complete utter silence. There he was, one moment pleased to be greeted with silence from the absence of the mirror. Then the next moment, here he was, desperately wanting to be rid of the town’s eerie silence. He came to the center of the town and met the old man in the plaza. ”Old man, I have brought the Mirror of Truth!” He then proceeded to take the mirror out of his inventory.

”Ahhack! D*mn you! What else did you stuff inside!? I’m all sore here and there! Listen, you! I am the greatest of all Celestial items! I do not deserve treatment like this! I’m warning you! Never again...” The man in the Mirror of Truth continued on rambling as he plucked out feathers from all over him.

Delighted and surprise at the discovery, Alousous continued observed the mirror. ”How and why would the queen lend the magical tool of the nation to a man such as yourself? This is fabulous! Fantastic! Bless the queen! May her reign last forever and ever more!”

…His thanks should be targeted towards Zhang Yang instead, since he had just spent an entire day just to steal some panties.

‘Ding! You have completed the quest: Retrieve the Mirror of Truth. Obtained 2,000,000 Experience Points!’

Alousous gazed up and down, looking at Zhang Yang and the Mirror in turn. ”Young man, your feats have raised my hopes. Now, I truly believe that you could defeat the evil witch and rescue our town! Let’s not waste time, please take the mirror with you and head west. The witch is living in a small, rundown garden!’

‘Ding! Alousous has a quest for you: Save Lagguda. Will you accept it?’

…

[Save Lagguda] (Difficulty Level: A)

Quest Description: You have obtained the one weapon to defeat the evil witch. Please take the mirror with you and slay the evil witch! The entire town of Lagguda awaits your victorious return!

Progress: Kill the Evil Witch Daphne 0/1

Zhang Yang took off alone. The lair of Daphne was pretty close to Lagguda. After traveling merely 3km away, Zhang Yang came to a small farm. There were weird flora that flourished around the garden and have been tended to carefully. In the middle of the garden were a few small shacks and one of them had smoke coming out from the chimney on top.

Just before he was about to barge into the shack, he noticed there were blinks in the mini-map that notified Zhang Yang about the location of herbs. Zhang Yang zoomed in and was shocked to see there were extremely rare herbs that were growing in the garden! Almost of them were rare and awfully scarce.

Two factors limit the production of herbs. A low number of spawn points, and an extreme lengthy spawning duration. These herbs that were growing in the garden were known for both factors! Even though they were only Level 70 herbs, they were extremely rare and valuable! Without hesitation, Zhang Yang leapt down from the bear and started to harvest the herbs.

”Insolent fool! How dare you steal my precious herbs! Begone!” A loud and coarse sound of an old woman roared from behind him. Zhang Yang turned around only to be greeted by an old hag that looked like she was already at the age of 60. Her skin was wrinkled and she was as skinny as a stick. Dressed in a black magician cloak, the old hag took out a foot-long wand and point it at Zhang Yang. Instantly, a black ray blasted out and struck Zhang Yang.

‘-4,574!’

[Daphne the Witch] (Gray-Silver, Humanoid)

Level: 75

HP: 750,000

MP: 400,000

Defense: 400

Zhang Yang jumped back onto the bear and charged towards the boss. She was merely a Gray-Silver tier. There was absolutely nothing to fear about the battle. Since there were walls and obstacle laying around, Zhang Yang could easily block the boss’ line of sight to disrupt her spellcasting!

Just as he got within range, Zhang Yang pulled out the mirror from his inventory and yelled. ”It’s your turn to shine now, magic tool!”

”CALL ME THE GREAT MAGIC MIRROR!” Even though the man in the mirror protested, he carried out his task. Like oil and water, the mirror had automatically activated its power in the presence of Black Magic, just like how an anti-virus program automatically activates when a virus was present in the computing system.

SHIING!

A bright light blasted out from the mirror and illuminated everything that the mirror was facing, including Daphne.

”KYAA!”

Clumps of black clouds oozed out of Daphne shrieked in horror. Her reaction was rather amusing, similar to how a vampire reacts upon being exposed to sunlight.

”No….NO! It cannot be! Why…? Where did my life source go!? What has happened to my immortality!? What have you done to me? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!”

While being accused by the distraught old hag, Zhang Yang felt extremely awkward. He was indirectly innocent since it was the mirror that had snatched away her black magic. He then started swinging his sword and taunted the witch. ”Time for you to die!”

”Grr! It doesn’t matter if I’ve lost my Vitality Puppets! I can always find more!” Without delay, Daphne started chanting her attack. Before the man in the mirror could voice his complaints again, Zhang Yang swiftly stuffed him back into his inventory and equipped himself with the shield.

”Hehehe! Feel the honor as being the first replacement of my Vitality Puppets!” cried Daphne, giving out a typical witch’s cackle. Pew! A {Shadow Arrow} blasted and damaged Zhang Yang for 4,500 HP.

Zhang Yang planted five layers of {Cripple Defense} and shot back. ”Old witch, you’re not my type! Give it up!”

”Insolent fool! Weep for your own dark future! You shall be plunged into eternal sleep!”

The boss’ {Shadow Arrow} casting rate was rather fast, at 2 seconds per shot, pushing her DPS up to 2,200! Guardians never had any solid form of defense against magic. They could not use {Block} either. Without the shield, the Defense value would not apply, thus forcing Zhang Yang to receive the highest damage possible.

With the immense damage received, his Rage gauge was constantly filled. Zhang Yang would not need to worry about the cost of the skills, as he could blatantly cast all his skills at will.

Even though Daphne might be a Gray-Silver tier, her natural anti-tank magic attack had managed to damage Zhang Yang down to his last drop of HP in just half a minute, despite having attack no better than the physical attack of a Yellow-Gold tier boss. Relying on his set-equipment set-effect, and a bottle of [Level 4 Healing Potion], Zhang Yang had managed to keep his HP up to a certain degree. He then commanded the bear to move across the field, behind a wall to disrupt the witch’s line of sight.

This would possibly reduce the total damage output, but at the same time, could reduce the damage received. As long as he could survive each clash for more than 2 minutes, he could easily win the battle with the 2 minute cool down of {Berserker’s Heal}.

As easy as it seemed, the boss was still a boss. To defeat her that easily would put a shame to all Gray-Silver tiered bosses in the world.

As the battle continued on for another 4 minutes, Zhang Yang had managed to decrease the boss HP down to 130,000. He decided to activate the {Dance of the Heaven and Earth}.

FOOM!

‘-10,000!’

‘-10,000!’

‘-10,000!’

‘-10,000!’

…

With each slice, the boss would take a clean amount of 10,000 damage. After the skill’s 10th consecutive strike ended, the boss had received a total of 100,000 damage!

Full Rage (points) {Killing Cleave}!

‘-8,940!’

Zhang Yang then consumed a [Transmute (5) Enrage Potion] to raise his Rage to 100 points and also gained an additional buff that increased 50% of his attack power!

{Horizontal Sweep}!

{Destructive Smash}!

{Force Strike}!

With a chain of attacks landing on the boss, coupled with the bear’s own claw strikes, the boss’s 130,00 HP swiftly plummeted down to the last bit.

”OOOUUUAHHH!” The old hag wailed and fell defeated.

Nodding contentedly, Zhang Yang felt that the skill {Dance of the Heaven and Earth} was truly OP beyond words. It would be especially indispensable during the race to win the First Clear Achievement of a Hardcore Mode dungeon! When a sudden jolt of power is required to kill the boss, all 9 of the members who had the skill could activate them at the same time and instantly deal a massive amount of 900,000 damage! What could match up to that!?

Zhang Yang smiled knowingly as he fantasized using it in dungeons. He then went on to pick up his battle loots. Naturally, all the Gray-Silver tier equipment were junk to him. Only one item drew his attention, it was an Assembled Equipment part.

[Fireglass Necklace Fragment] (Gray-Silver, Necklace Fragment)

Use: Combine five fragments of the Fireglass Necklace to form a complete Fireglass Necklace.

Level Requirement: 70

Since the fragments did not have any specific numbers to them, he could farm the same piece over and over again until he could assemble the item.

Zhang Yang tossed the fragment into his inventory. Just one of the five pieces would not be worth anything. When five fragments are gathered, they would worth a whole lot more. For example, each fragment could cost around 10,000 gold coins, but the cost of the completed equipment would be worth roughly 70,000 to 80,000 gold coins. If the item had any specific effects, it would fetch an even higher price, naturally.

Since drop rates were so unpredictable, one could gain four pieces successfully, without a hitch and be stuck forever, trying to gain the final piece. Furthermore, before the product is actually forged, no one could really judge the equipment’s properties to deem it worth the trouble of farming in the first place!

Setting that aside, Zhang Yang went on to collect all the precious herbs that had spawned in the garden. All of them could be used to concoct [Invincibility Potions]! These potions will grant their users the ability of being literally invincible, to be immune to all attacks! It was one of the game’s strongest potion! Just like [Mobility Potions], [Invincibility Potions] are categorized into three different ranks. Beginner, Intermediate, and Advance, each respectively having 3 seconds, 5 seconds, and 10 seconds of effective duration.

Logically, being one of the strongest potion in the game, it also had one of the longest cool down time, which was 30 minutes. That meant that, there was absolutely no way that a player could use the potion in the PvP arena.

After digging up all the herbs and grass, Zhang Yang hopped on his mount and rode back to Lagguda happily.

Back at the town’s entrance, the clock’s hands were no longer frozen. The time had changed to 1:58! The witch’s spell was lifted! The curse was gone! Instead of the gloomy, dark, spooky town, light had been reintroduced into the streets!

One by one, windows and doors were open as many people were sticking their heads out to finally see the world again, after being frozen in time. Happiness filled the streets as Alousous greeted each and every one that he saw. With a jubilant smile, the old man greeted Zhang Yang. ”Warrior! You have done this town a great favor! You have rescued everyone in Lagguda! You’re our hero! The savior!”

Slowly, the citizen walked out of their home. Puzzled and confused of what has happened to them, they started asking one another questions.

Zhang Yang nodded and hopped down from the bear and patted the old man’s shoulder. ”I’m but an adventurer. The honor is mine!”

”Young warrior! You’re brave and wise! I shall ensure the land will always praise your name in songs and poems for decades to come!”

‘Ding! You have completed the quest: Save Lagguda. Obtained 1,000,000 Experience Points!’

Alousous took out a piece of shiny metal from his pocket and gave it to Zhang Yang. ”This old man has nothing to give you except this. It was an heirloom from my ancestors! It is said to be a treasure or some sorts, but I have no knowledge of it. Please take it. Instead of keeping it, I feel that it may be of some use to you!”

‘Ding! You have obtained an item: Dimensional Key Fragment 3!’

[Dimensional Key Fragment 3] (Question Item, Unique)

Description: Gather all seven fragments of the Dimensional Key to form a complete Dimensional Key that opens the dimension gate to the royal palace of the Imperial Heaven’s Empire. In the situation where players that possesses the key fragment is in the same map as you, a system location notification of their position will be announced. If you are killed by a player possessing the key fragment, the key fragment in your inventory will have a 100% chance of being dropped upon death. The item will never appear elsewhere again.

Unique item! That meant that the same item will never appear elsewhere in the whole of China!

Dammit! After running all day long, running errands here and there, he had only manage to obtained one of the seven key fragments!

Sighing, Zhang Yang felt that it was rather unfair. He bade Alousous farewell and hurried back to Hera’s Castle to return the Mirror of Truth back to Shaenita. Once the mirror was back into Shaenita’s hands, like a spoiled child, the man in the mirror started to rumble about how Zhang Yang had been ”mistreating” him.

The second, reachable descendant of the several generals is located in the Crimson Flame Hills. The NPC carrying the key fragment is called Tiffany..

Just as Zhang Yang was racing towards the destination, he was disturbed by a voice message from Wei Yan Er. ”Hey! Noobie tank! Time for supper!”

”…Didn’t you had enough for dinner? How are you able to eat so much at night?”

”What are you talking about? I’m a growing child! Of course I need more that that!”

”Glutton!”

Zhang Yang logged off and went to the kitchen to make the girls supper. Even though he was scolding the little girl about eating too much, he was, in fact, getting a little hungry himself.

In just a few minutes, the man had stepped out of the kitchen with light snacks and a couple of hot drinks. He knocked on the door and the three of them sat down together, enjoying their late night supper.

While munching on the piece of bread, Wei Yan Er was busy scrolling her phone and spoke. ”There’s this guy in the news who had died while playing ‘God’s Miracle’! Woah. His house had caught fire and he had not realized it until it was already too late. He was actually burnt alive! And then there’s this some university professor, a professor Tao, stating something about how the psyche of the human mind might be affected by too much VR diving! He had even urged the government to ban the game!” cried Wei Yan Er, her voice muffled by the piece of bread still in her mouth.