Chapter 57: Silver Boss Summoning Scroll!

An 18th-level Formation Tactician single-handedly slaying a full-health 31st-level monster with a single skill.

Lu Ming’s sword-draw unleashed a massive output of over 27,000 damage, leaving other 30th-level players nearby who were forming teams to grind saber-toothed tigers utterly questioning their reality!

Meanwhile, as the quality of the sword-drawing skill increased, the attack damage of the Undead Legion, including Lin Youwei’s, also saw a massive boost.

Boom!

With a single fireball cast by Lin Youwei, a staggering 4,535 points of damage landed on a saber-toothed tiger ahead.

Her small mouth widened in astonishment once more, and her eyes were filled with pleasant surprise.

"Oh heavens! Why has my damage increased by so much?"

If a 30th-level mage dealt such damage to a monster of the same level, it might not be surprising.

However, one had to remember that Lin Youwei was merely a 17-year-old novice mage!

This made those surrounding grown men who were level 30 yet still only able to deal one to two thousand points of damage to a saber-toothed tiger feel utterly ashamed of themselves...

"What the hell! What kind of ridiculous damage are those two dealing? Is that even possible for someone in their teens? They must be wearing full Gold-tier gear?!"

"Damn it! Report! I want to report someone for cheating!!"

...

War Trample, boosted by a twenty-fold enhancement, granted teammates a bonus of 400% plus a fixed 1,840 points of attack power.

As Lu Ming’s attack power increased from 342 to 570 points, the attack power bonus received by the Undead Warriors rose from 3,208 points to 4,120 points!

Such a tremendous attack boost made the slaughter by the Undead Warriors even more bloodthirsty and brutal!

At this moment, the prefixes of the two sides ought to be swapped:

Brutal Undead Warrior vs. Feeble Saber-Toothed Tiger!

"This infinite-growth skill is truly powerful!"

Lu Ming felt fortunate that he hadn't sold this skill off back then.

It was unimaginable that, at merely level 18, he already possessed a skill of Grade D!

He remembered in his past life that even when he reached level 200, all his skills were uniformly only Grade D!

Consequently, Lu Ming plunged back into the battle.

Under Lin Youwei's 200% drop-rate bonus, by around five o'clock in the afternoon, they had already gathered two thousand tiger pelts!

With one thousand pelts each, Lu Ming and Lin Youwei had more than enough to complete the tenth tier of the [Collect Tiger Pelts] quest respectively.

The only minor flaw was that the collection progress for the summon scroll fragments was only around 700 pieces.

Although that was already enough to synthesize a Bronze Boss-tier summon scroll, Lu Ming's pursuit was not Bronze, but Silver!

A Bronze-tier Boss could at best only drop Bronze-tier equipment.

However, a Silver-tier Boss, with a bit of luck, had a chance to drop Silver-tier equipment!

Yes, that's right. Lu Ming wanted to collect fragments to synthesize a Silver Boss summon scroll not to sell it for money, but to use it himself!

The reason summon scrolls were so valuable was that elite monsters or Bosses summoned through these scrolls, unlike monsters that refreshed naturally in the wild, were all designated by the system as "first kills."

As everyone knew: a Boss's first kill had the highest drop rate and the greatest value, while subsequent kills yielded diminishing value.

"With Lin Youwei's 200% drop-rate bonus, taking down the first kill of a Silver-tier Boss should easily yield a Silver item."

Lu Ming analyzed, "Any random Silver-tier equipment drop would be more valuable than the one hundred thousand yuan obtained from directly selling the scroll."

Therefore, Lu Ming had no intention of leaving the Western Farmland just yet.

Instead, he continued to grind saber-toothed tigers with Lin Youwei and collect summon scroll fragments.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the fragments finally reached a thousand pieces!

Lu Ming gathered all the fragments together.

[Ding ~ Congratulations on obtaining a Silver Boss-tier Summon Scroll!]

Holding the scroll worth one hundred thousand yuan in his hand, it felt heavy.

[Silver Boss-tier Summon Scroll] (Special Item)
[Description: Upon use, summons a level 30 Silver Boss-tier Saber-Toothed Tiger King, lasting for ten minutes]

Lu Ming did not use this scroll immediately.

Because the Boss's existence time was merely ten minutes.

Given the current strength of the Undead Legion, they probably couldn't steadily defeat a level 30 Silver Boss. If things went wrong and they wiped, it would be an irreversible and massive loss!

Therefore, to be safe, Lu Ming planned to wait until he reached level 20 and all three of his innate talents were upgraded to Lv3 before using this scroll.

Just as Lu Ming was thinking along these lines,

Lin Youwei, who was beside him, said, "Big Brother Youming, it's almost seven o'clock. Shall I go back first and make dinner?"

"Don't cook tonight," Lu Ming said. "Let's head back together, I'll take you out to eat."

Thinking that Lu Ming felt it was too late and couldn't wait, Lin Youwei replied, "It's fine, Big Brother Youming! I can quickly stir-fry a couple of dishes and buy some ready-made food from the vegetable market. Dinner will be ready in no time!"

"Always eating out is such a waste of money..."

Lu Ming indeed couldn't wait.

However, it wasn't because he was hungry, but because there were more tasks to do after dinner.

According to the game's mechanics, a single player could only synthesize one summon scroll in their lifetime.

Lu Ming intended to have Lin Youwei synthesize one on her end as well later on.

Two Silver-tier Bosses meant double the value!

Hence, Lu Ming planned to log back online immediately after dinner to continue helping Lin Youwei grind for scroll fragments.

Looking at Lin Youwei, who was agonizing over money, he said, "It's fine, my treat."

The two of them returned to Starlight City.

Before logging off, they first found the tailor shop owner, Alan, to turn in the quest.

The previous level 30 quest had rewarded Lu Ming with an E-grade skill scroll worth twenty thousand, and Lin Youwei had even received an ultra-rare Silver-tier equipment reward!

Thus, Lu Ming held some expectations this time as well.

After submitting a thousand tiger pelts to Alan, the system's pleasant prompt rang in his ears.

[Ding ~ Congratulations on completing the quest 《Collect Tiger Pelts》. You have received the tenth-tier quest rewards: Experience Points +450,000, Silver Coins +9, Bronze-tier Equipment - Tiger-Skin Coat x1! Formation Tactician E-grade Skill Scroll - Lightning Fast x1!]

Lu Ming felt a vague sense of disappointment.

He hadn't obtained the Silver-tier item he was hoping for.

However, getting another E-grade skill scroll was still pretty good!

Lu Ming took a look and found that the effect of Lightning Fast was to deploy a formation that increased the attack speed and movement speed of all friendly units within range.

"Currently, the biggest weakness of the Undead Warriors is their excessive slowness, which makes them appear too sluggish when facing high-level opponents. This skill can compensate for that exact weakness!"

However, to learn this skill, Lu Ming first needed to reach level 20 and unlock his fourth skill slot.

Therefore, he temporarily stored the skill scroll in his inventory.

As for the level 18 Bronze-tier Tiger-Skin Coat, although its stats were much stronger than the level 8 Black-Iron Moon Demon Cloak he was wearing, replacing the Moon Demon Cloak would break the effect of the Moon Demon set skill [Mana Regen].

Furthermore, upon reaching level 20 very soon, he would be switching to the [Soul Set].

Consequently, Lu Ming decisively put the Tiger-Skin Coat up for sale on the trading house for a price of eight thousand.

Since he couldn't use it, converting it into cash to put in his pocket felt much more reliable!

Meanwhile, the experience points accumulated from slaying saber-toothed tigers earlier, combined with the 450,000 experience points from the quest reward, caused Lu Ming's level to increase!

[Ding ~ Congratulations on leveling up... Current level is 19, next level requires 2,000,000 experience points!]

He was only a step away from level 20!

On Lin Youwei's side,

Her luck this time wasn't as good as the previous time either.

Just like Lu Ming, she only received a piece of Bronze-tier equipment and an E-grade skill scroll.

She remained as innocent as ever, keeping only the silver coins and immediately handing both the equipment and the skill scroll over to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming accepted them all without hesitation.

Because in his eyes, the meaning of Lin Youwei's existence was to bring in wealth.

She didn't need to be too strong.

And the resources on her certainly couldn't be too abundant.

Having finished turning in the quest, the two of them logged off.

As soon as she logged off, Lin Youwei went downstairs to buy groceries.

Lu Ming transferred one thousand yuan to her via WeChat.

"Why is Big Brother Youming transferring money to me? I have money!" Lin Youwei asked with surprise.

Lu Ming said, "For you to buy groceries."

Although he needed to keep Lin Youwei's little treasury under control so she wouldn't become too wealthy,

Lu Ming wasn't petty enough to dock Lin Youwei's food money!

That would simply make him look like a freeloading parasite!

Lu Ming had long known that Lin Youwei was a little miser.

She didn't decline and accepted the transfer.

"Thank you, Big Brother Youming!"

Then she sent another message asking, "By the way, Big Brother Youming, do you drink alcohol? Shall I bring you a bottle of beer?"

Anyway, grinding maps at night would be handled by the Undead Legion, so Lu Ming wouldn't need to do the heavy lifting himself.

Lu Ming replied, "Sure, then bring me a bottle of Wusu."

"Okay!"

Lu Ming lay on the bed to rest for a bit.

Before he knew it, he had dozed off...

When he was startled awake by a round of knocking on the door, Lin Youwei had already prepared dinner.

Entering the living room, the table was already set with cold dishes, roast duck, stir-fried peanuts, and smashed cucumbers.

They were all dishes meant to go with alcohol.

Lu Ming sat down and began eating and drinking.

After finishing the meal, Lin Youwei quietly cleaned up without needing Lu Ming to lift a finger.

In his past life, 365 days a year, even when sick, Lu Ming had rushed to cook and care for Ye Ling'er.

This was the first time Lu Ming experienced how wonderful it felt to be cared for by someone else!

At eight o'clock in the evening, Lu Ming and Lin Youwei returned to their respective rooms and logged in simultaneously.

In Starlight City, the quests around level 30 were basically just [Hunt Poison Scorpions] and [Collect Tiger Pelts].

Higher-level quests for levels 35–40 were a bit too difficult for Lu Ming at present and weren't suitable for him to do right now.

Therefore, this allowed him to focus entirely on grinding saber-toothed tigers and collecting summon scroll fragments before reaching level 20.

Just as Lu Ming was about to head to the Western Farmland with Lin Youwei,

A familiar figure suddenly appeared in his line of sight ahead...

"Isn't that White Tiger's girlfriend, Qinqin?"

Lu Ming saw a sultry 16-year-old female archer in a corner of the city, hugging and getting all cozy with a male player.

And that male player was definitely not White Tiger.