Chapter 12: The First All-Nighter That Risked My Life

The higher the level, the slower the progression became. After another two hours of grinding, the highest-leveled among them, the fourth, had only managed to get from level 16 and a half to 17, the eldest was still at level 15, while Lin Jia had reached 16. With his greatly increased magical power, Lin Jia could now kill a zombie with just four or five fireballs. Combined with the physical attacks from the eldest and the fourth, it took only two or three seconds to bring down a zombie. At this pace, if they didn’t log off, they might even reach level 20 by tomorrow morning.

“It’s almost midnight! What do you think? Should we pull an all-nighter?” The fourth glanced around at the players, most of whom had already left, and spoke with some hesitation.

The eldest stayed silent for a while, and Lin Jia was a bit worried as well. The three of them rarely spent nights out and were well aware of the consequences they’d face at home the next day if they didn’t go back tonight. But seeing the piles of gold coins dropped by the zombies, the eldest gritted her teeth and declared, “Let’s go for it! All night!”

The fourth put on a face as if heading to his doom. “Let it be, whatever happens!”

Lin Jia, on the other hand, had it easier. His family trusted his character and wouldn’t worry about him getting into trouble. At most, he’d tell a little white lie the next day, saying he’d spent the night at Xu Hongbin’s place, the fourth.

Once the decision was made, the eldest stood up. “You two keep playing—I’m going to pay for the overnight session and then grab us some snacks!” They were all growing youths, and the fast food noodles they’d eaten that evening had long since been digested. Engrossed in the game, they hadn’t noticed their hunger until the eldest mentioned it. As soon as she returned with three servings of fried noodles, they devoured it in less than a minute, barely pausing to wipe their greasy mouths before their hands were back on the keyboard and mouse.

Although the eldest had a bit of a tomboyish streak, her attention to detail showed through. She even thought to buy three packs of Bird’s Nest instant coffee and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi as reserves for the night, saying it was to stave off sleepiness! One had to admire her odd ideas—by the look of it, she was determined to power-level energetically all night. Didn’t she realize that if she got tired, she could just nap in the soft computer chairs at the net café?

The owner of this net café was truly business-savvy; the comfortable environment was perfectly designed to attract customers. The café was equipped with reclining, elastic lounge chairs that could be adjusted upright while surfing the web and reclined into beds for watching movies or listening to music. At night, when players who’d paid for an overnight session were sleepy, they could doze off right there. Moreover, during the night, the staff would thoughtfully serve each overnight player a cup of tea, along with snacks like bread, biscuits, and instant noodles. How could a place like this not do well?

Several hours later, Lin Jia’s little mage, “Mad Ling Jia,” finally reached level 17—the level at which a mage could truly be called a “Mage.” At this level, mages learned a powerful skill they would use for life: “Lightning Bolt.” Compared to the three skills learned before level 17—“Fire Ring,” “Charm Light,” and “Hellfire”—Lightning Bolt was far more practical. It not only dealt massive damage but could also strike monsters through obstacles or walls, finally giving mages the ability to “trap monsters.”

“Trapping monsters” meant drawing a monster’s attention and luring it behind an obstacle, then hiding and casting Lightning Bolt from safety. Monsters, not being very smart, would just wander back and forth upon being attacked, unable to find their way around the obstacle to chase the mage—a very safe tactic, especially against fast, high-damage, dangerous monsters.

As for “Fire Ring,” it was used when a mage was surrounded and needed to push back nearby monsters to escape. But at their current skill proficiency and level, it wasn’t very useful.

“Charm Light” was similar—a skill to charm monsters into becoming pets that could help in battle. But at such a low level, it was hard to charm even the weakest chicken, so it wasn’t much use yet.

“Hellfire” was utterly useless at this stage. It shot a line of fire directly ahead, attacking monsters in a straight line for three spaces. At the current common mage levels, using it was asking for death—it consumed a lot of mana, did little damage, and though it was an area attack, which mage would risk letting monsters get within three steps? With the casting lag after using the skill, you’d inevitably get bitten, and if you accidentally drew too many monsters, you could die instantly. When their levels increased and their defense improved, it would only be practical against weak monsters. By level 25, mages could learn the devastating “Laser Beam” skill, attacking every monster in a straight line across the screen, boasting the highest damage of all mage skills. Hellfire would be even more obsolete then, and for group attacks, there were “Explosion Flame” at level 22 and “Fire Wall” at level 24—both essential for leveling and PvP.

With his new powerful attack skill and high magic, Lin Jia could now kill a zombie with just two or three bolts—no need to lure them first. Whenever they encountered four or five zombies together, the eldest and the fourth would charge in and hack away. Before the zombies could do much damage, Lin Jia’s lightning had already struck them down. The eldest and the fourth’s task was simply to keep the monsters away from fragile Lin Jia, further increasing their leveling speed!

With their increased numbers and attack power, they soon outpaced the respawn rate of zombies in the secret passage corridors. The three decided to regroup and advance further into the map, as they’d discovered two small stairways leading to other areas during the earlier fights. Out of caution, they hadn’t ventured down them yet, since their party still included Lin Jia, a fragile mage with barely any health potions, who was also carrying a priceless weapon. If he died and dropped it, retrieving it would be quite a challenge.

After stuffing their bags with equal parts health and mana potions, the trio cautiously headed down a corridor to the left of the map. After clearing out some newly spawned zombies, the tough, high-health fourth squeezed through first. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “Hey! Come up here!” The eldest and Lin Jia followed, and the screen shifted to reveal that they’d emerged through a stairway and found themselves back on the castle map.

It turned out that in the upper left corner of the castle map, behind a shabby little tent, there was a secret door leading to the hidden passage. If you hadn’t come out from this side, who would have guessed there was a secret door here?

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