Chapter 44: The Lieya Boar Demon

Ye Rong had now set his sights on a new monster, the Lieya Boar Demon.

This boar demon had thick, rough skin, extremely long Health Points, and a stocky body. It could already walk upright and possessed a spell to kick up sand and stones.

The Lieya Boar Demon would drop two materials: boar bristles and boar tusks. Exchanging two hundred bristles with Ji Deng earned ten points of Sect Contribution. One hundred tusks traded for twenty taels of fine silver.

It wasn’t this mass material collection task alone that had drawn Ye Rong specifically. But the Lieya Boar Demon also had a very low drop rate for Iron Shards. Collecting twenty of these could be used to complete one part of a Chain Quest with Tiancanzi inside the Qingcheng Mountain Gate.

This information was also something Chen Taizhen had shared with Ye Rong. Of course, the conversation framed it as Tiancanzi being skilled at refining Flying Swords, suggesting Ye Rong could see if there was a usable sword there. But without Chen Taizhen’s referral, any ordinary disciple visiting Tiancanzi would get the cold shoulder, making it impossible to trigger this Chain Quest.

Ye Rong didn’t know what rank the Flying Sword reward from this Chain Quest actually was. But as long as it was even a little better than the Taixuan Ice Soul Sword, it would be fine.

“My demands really aren’t high. If they really gave me a Sixth or Seventh-Rank Flying Sword, I couldn’t equip it at my current Level anyway.”

The price of Third-Rank Flying Swords had recently seen another increase, making Ye Rong truly envious. Seeing them sell for nearly four thousand yuan each made him sigh; there were just so many rich people. Moreover, the immense popularity of Far Shore wasn’t just attracting individual Players, but also guilds backed by large consortiums were moving in. Its incredible money-making power turned heads throughout the industry.

With a daily influx of new Players matching the game’s launch numbers, it wouldn’t be long before Far Shore seriously challenged the status of those classic old games.

Having a potential replacement sword, Ye Rong naturally wanted to sell his current Taixuan Ice Soul Sword while it was at peak value. Acting slowly, even a little late, could mean its value plummeting by dozens of times.

The Lieya Boar Demon, in Ye Rong’s eyes at that moment, seemed like a monster woven from stacks of cash. It was incredibly appealing.

Crack! Boom!

The Lieya Boar Demon stood roughly twice as tall as Ye Rong. It beat its chest with a furious roar, then opened its cavernous maw, unleashing a gust of fierce wind. Sand and stones flew wildly, yellow dust churned, and countless tiny pebbles tumbled violently toward him, mixed with several large stones as big as millstones.

A layer of purple light instantly rose around Ye Rong’s body, shielding him from all the stones and debris. The sound drummed against the shield like rain on banana leaves. This was his Fourth-Rank Magic Treasure, the Mystic Purple Turtle Shell, activating automatically to produce the Mystic Purple Qi Shield.

“Damn! Even a boar demon dares to be this fierce!”

If not for the Mystic Purple Turtle Shell, Ye Rong would have suffered a major blow caught unprepared. The rapidly dropping defense of the Mystic Purple Qi Shield showed just how powerful those flying stones were.

“Today, Grandpa here is going to teach you that a pig is just a pig. Becoming a pig demon doesn’t suddenly make you smart!”

Ye Rong rode his Flying Sword out of the sandstorm’s reach. Looking down from the air, he saw the spell only covered an area of about ten square meters. The Lieya Boar Demon, still puffing out its massive belly, continued furiously blowing, striving to maximize the power of its spell.

Ye Rong circled around behind it. Sword Light flickered as he attacked viciously, targeting it while it remained motionless channeling its spell. Flesh and blood flew.

The boar demon’s intelligence was indeed low. Stunned by the spell’s backlash, it wobbled like a drunken hog, completely incapable of retaliating.

Could there be anything more joyful than killing such stupid monsters? Yes – a whole line of equally stupid Lieya Boar Demons waiting patiently for Ye Rong to harvest them.

The drop rate for materials like bristles and tusks was fairly high; out of two or three Lieya Boar Demons slain, one or two items would usually drop. But Iron Shards remained extremely scarce. After fighting Lieya Boar Demons all morning, he’d only gotten one Iron Shard – a shallow brown piece of metal about the size of a tile and as thick as a finger.

Furthermore, Ye Rong discovered a significant personal flaw: his Universe Pouch space was simply too small. Within an hour or two of fighting, the pouch would be packed full of materials.

This was even after focusing solely on killing just this one type of monster, where dropped materials were consistent, saving considerable inventory space. Otherwise, the situation would have been even worse.

But even then, his leveling efficiency suffered greatly. He was mainly heartbroken over all those wasted materials.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

A sharp alarm suddenly rang in his ears. Ye Rong finished off the Lieya Boar Demon he was facing with a couple of sword strikes, then quickly retreated to a safe spot and logged out of the game. This sound was his alert for real-world calls, preset within the game. Judging by the specific tone, the caller had quite a high contact priority; otherwise, the Light Brain would have simply blocked it, preventing it from disturbing the gaming session.

Ye Rong glanced at the call notification. It was indeed a familiar number.

“What’s up, Haozi? Shouldn’t you be passed out in bed right now? Haven’t recovered all the energy you burned last night, have you?”

Ye Rong joked, knowing his friend usually partied at bars until three or four in the morning. Sometimes he’d even leave with two spicy ladies. Getting a call at this hour was quite unusual.

“Hey hey hey, don’t just slander me like that! My life’s gotten way more routine lately.”

In the video feed, Haozi’s hair was messy, and dark circles hung under his eyes, but he didn’t have that previous utterly wasted, perpetually tired, couldn’t-be-bothered look.

“Serious talk. What Level are you in Far Shore? What’s your in-game name?”

“Yijian Kurong. Just hit Level 21. You?”

“Whoa, that’s pretty fast. I’m only Level 16. Just in Chengdu City with some friends right now, about to head to Emei and join the Sect.”

“You’re not that slow either.”

Ye Rong knew Haozi’s character well; he wasn’t the patient grinder type. Beautiful women and alcohol held way more appeal for him. Reaching Level 16 was, for him, remarkably diligent.

As for being in Chengdu City and choosing to join Emei, that was the norm.

For nearly half the Players, Emei was their first Sect of choice. Amongst the freshest novices, the preference was even higher, around seventy percent.

“You can afford a Dragon Riding Light Escape Talisman already?! Doing quite well!”

“Heheh, swapped some cash for silver to buy it. Wanna head to Emei with us? Then you and I, the Twin Swords of Purple and Green, would become famous across the land!”

“Ha, yeah right. You and me, the Twin Swords? I already joined the Qingcheng Sect.”

They bantered briefly, exchanged in-game names, and agreed to meet shortly in Chengdu City.

Ye Rong logged back into the game. He took flight on his Sword, heading straight for Chengdu City. Without a luxury consumable like an Earth Deity Talisman, he had to make the journey slowly by Flying Sword.