Zhan Long-Chapter 146: Too Small

“Flap Flap”

Recoiling slightly from my attack, the Illusionary Butterfly groaned and flapped its wings. Both of it’s wings trembled as the glow of fiery flames flickered into sight. In the next second, a magic skill was cast, and a powerful [Fierce Wind] blew from under my foot, engulfing my body. A sharp pain wracked my body as a large number floated above my head–

547！

I frowned, this magical skill was capable of doing way too much damage. This monster had to die quickly!

Turning the tip of the sword over, a golden hexagram appeared, signifying a Lv 6 [Combo]. 4 consecutive moves struck, causing damages totaling to almost 3200! Unsurprisingly, the Illusionary Butterfly’s health nearly dropped to 0!

“Hong!”

The second gust of [Fierce Wind] took over 500 of my health, but a Lv 6 [Heal] recovered 900 of my health back to me!

“Creak…”

The Illusionary Butterfly gave a shrill scream; its wings glowed green while it furiously danced in the light. The second skill was coming– [Vines of the Dancing Butterfly]!

“Shua!”

Countless of green vines rose from the ground, wrapping around me and binding my feet to the ground. It was a crowd control ability that would stop all movement for 3 seconds. Thus it would be possible to both attack and defend during this duration. Tsk, this skill is not bad, combined with an Archer’s [Shattered Shot], it would be quite amazing. This would be a great PK move; after binding, two [Flame Blade]s would be able to take care of anyone caught in it!

Taking advantage of my closeness, I didn’t let Baby Bobo attack. Instead, I used the Frost Rain Sword. Cyan colored wind started to pick up as the [Wind Blade] got ready to let loose.

1774！

The sword beheaded the Illusionary Butterfly, and two words rose above my head — LEVEL +1!

……

OK, the [Wind Blade] finally grew to Lv 6 on my journey to Lv 52, totaling an additional 18% damage! With my attack strength, the [Wind Blade] was enough to carve the soul out of someone’s body with ease!

From behind, Strawberry Matcha chuckled, “Wow Boss, your attack is so high. I’ve met many people in Ba Huang Forest but no one has more attack than you do.”

Carrying the Frost Rain Sword, “Hehe, it’s decent. If I didn’t have this strength, how could I protect everyone?”

“Yea! When I follow Boss, I feel safe and protected!”

Strawberry Matcha stuck out her tongue and raised her sword into the air while flying, “Boss, I checked the skill list, and the S Ranked [Strength of a Thousand Men] skill is yours right…”

I nodded, “Yea, what about it?”

“Why didn’t you use [Strength of a Thousand men] on the Illusionary Butterfly? The butterfly’s defense would not have been high enough to protect itself from it. We could have saved a lot of time and leveled some more.”

I gave it a thought, “Ah, that’s true. Strawberry Matcha, when we killed that Illusionary Butterfly, how much experience did you get?”

“Well… 0.9% of the total experience needed for this level…”

“Not bad, 110 of these Illusionary Butterflies would get you a level up. Let’s continue!”

“Okay!”　……

This time, I used the proposal Strawberry Matcha had given when I spotted an Illusionary Butterfly. Not yet close enough for the auto-aggro to happen, but close enough to quickly get into range with a dash, I struck with multiple blows! “Pa pa pa!”

679！

771！

667！

With the fourth hit, I deliberately let the sword rub against the Illusionary Butterfly closely, and then abruptly smashed into it!

1102！

The final blow, [Wind Blade], had its attack increased!

2108！

I didn’t get a Fatal Blow with [Wind Blade], but this Illusionary Butterfly was already long gone without it!

Carrying the Frost Rain Sword, I picked up the silver coin that dropped from the Illusionary Butterfly. I laughed and asked, “Strawberry Matcha, Boss’ combo is incredibly graceful isn’t it?”

Strawberry Matcha chuckled, “Yes, super cool! Boss’ combo is the coolest combo of them all, but … the delay between the third and fourth hit was a little long. Boss, I heard people on the forum say that while in the middle of a battle, if you repeatedly think of the attack pattern, you can increase the speed of your attacks so your fourth hit quicker and more violent~”

I stared blankly, “Eh, is there such a trick?”

“Yea, when I was leveling up a few days ago, another noob player said so!”

“Then let’s see!”

I was skeptical. While killing two more Illusionary Butterflies with the Frost Rain Sword, the third butterfly came into place. The cooldown was over. It was time to unleash [Strength of a Thousand Men] once more!

“Pa pa pa…”

After three consecutive hits, I immediately thought of the attack pattern once again. And just like Strawberry Matcha had said, the speed of my body increased and the attack speed increased slightly as well. The fourth hit struck even faster than before. By the time I was done with the fourth strike, [Wind Blade], already brought the combo to the end!

“Ding!”

Notification: Player has successfully learned more about the combo skill [Strength of a Thousand Men] and the harmony has gone up by 1.6%!

……

I stood there stupefied. [Strength of a Thousand Men] had finally gone up in harmony. After 60% it had gotten extremely hard to gain any more harmony with it, but it had finally increased once more! Tsk, truly, even the person of mere happenstance can be a teacher for a moment! Strawberry Matcha had noticed this by accident, but to have this type of effect was truly unexpected!

TL Note: Chinese Idiom: “You can always learn from someone.”

“Boss? Boss, what’s wrong?” Strawberry Matcha stared at me as I stood there in a daze.

I raised my head and gave her a bright smile, “It’s nothing. Big Sis Matcha, you were right! If I think of my attack in my head, it will increase the attack speed of my attacks!”

“Ah, it was just a rumor I heard. I didn’t know if it was true or not, and I didn’t have a combo to try it out with either…”

“Ah!”

Continuing on with the Frost Rain Sword in hand, I stabbed a Illusionary Butterfly’s body while thinking of my attacks before hand. With this small technique, I was capable of increasing the attack speed of combos, but not ordinary attacks. The most important aspect of this technique was that it could increase the attack speed of combos by around 15%!

Ordinary people usually have a 0.2-0.3 second delay in their brains, but expert players could minimize this to a 0.1-0.2 range. So many things can happen in a second and so the faster the technique finishes, the more valuable it is in PKing! If I cut down [Strength of a Thousand Men]’s time to complete then I basically improve the chances of this skill landing!

This was extremely important. If I killed a noob like Tyrant of the Western Chu, then 1.2 seconds would be enough. But against Jiang Fen Han, Q-Sword, and other top ranked players, 1.2 seconds would be too long to risk trying to use a combo. I needed to master this!

……

In less than 30 minutes, a golden light dropped from the heavens with a “Shua!”, and I reached Lv 52. Strawberry Matcha was also able to reach Lv 28 as well. The Illusionary Butterflies before me fell to the ground. “Huahua” noises came from it as 14 coins dropped, as well as a green illustrated handbook. Picking it up to inspect it, it was an Illusionary Butterfly card!

【Illusionary Butterfly】

Attack: ★★☆

Defense: ★★★★

Health: ★★★☆

Agility：★★☆

Magic: ★★★★☆

Skills:【Fierce Wind】【Vines of the Dancing Butterfly】

……

With a flashing light, the Illusionary Butterfly card faded away from my hand. That meant with luck, I would be able to seal an Illusionary Butterfly away as a pet, but it had to be a Lv 1 butterfly which wasn’t so easy to find. Hmph, 4.5 stars in magic growth, that’s even higher than Yue Qing Qian’s Ice Rat. This is definitely a good magic pet and it can fly! Adding all the points in ability power would allow it to kill heavy armor classes like garlic on vampires!

Bringing my head up to look at Strawberry Matcha, I said, “Big Sis Strawberry Matcha, I just learned the Illusionary Butterfly Illustration. Be on the lookout for any Lv 1 Illusionary Butterflies, and tell me when you see one. Don’t let it go to waste!”

“Okay! Got it Boss!”

“Hold on, you don’t have a pet yet right?”

Strawberry Matcha’s face turned red, “Ah, I don’t have any money to buy one and I never came across a Lv 1 monster to seal…”

“Alright, come on then. If we can’t find you a pet here, then I’ll buy you a Killer Bee to take after we finish leveling.”

“Okay, thanks Boss!”

“No problem…”

……

And so, with a beautiful Wind Elf Swordsman, we traveled into Flint Canyon. In the blink of an eye, 3 hours had already passed. Strawberry Matcha had already reached Lv 30, and she was already wearing the equipment I had bought for her–like the Silver Tier breastplate, boots, and sword. She was finally exuding the attitude of an expert.

Noticing me stare at her, Strawberry Matcha’s face turned even more red, “Boss, don’t you dare look again!”

I coughed, and then turned to look at a distant Illusionary Butterfly.

Strawberry Matcha went silent for a few seconds and then opened her mouth, “Boss, I’ve heard that … you know Fan Shu City’s number one beauty, Cang Tong, very well. So well that you even know her in real life, is that true?”

I nodded my head, “I do…”

Strawberry Matcha’s small face turned even more red, “Oh … Cang Tong’s body is so good looking … would Boss think that … think that mine is a little small?”

I looked at her as her face flushed, breaking into laughter, I said, “Big Sis Matcha, what are you thinking about? You are one of Zhan Long’s members! We depend on you to help provide for us, and not on anyone else! Let me tell you, don’t compare yourself to Cang Tong. You’ll feel inferior. To say that… what about Yue Qing Qian …”

Strawberry Matcha continued to blush, “Oh, okay. Boss doesn’t mind me, that’s good…”

I said nothing.

……

At this moment, in another one of Ba Huang Forest’s training area.

“Achoo!”

A beautiful female figure emerged from behind a werewolf, holding a dagger out and ready to kill. She trembled abruptly as she stared into the empty sky, “Wuu, What’s this? Why do I feel as if someone is talking badly about me?”

TL: Superstition that you sneeze when someone talks ill of you”

Another beautiful girl held her dagger out, “Elder sister, hurry up and run, the werewolf leader is about to bite you!”

“Wa! Archer, use [Shattered Shot] to save me!! Ah … idiot, I want you to stun the werewolf, not hit me! You won’t be getting paid this week!”

“Deputy Chef please forgive me! I have a 25 year old wife, and a 19 year old mistress! If I can’t get any money, I won’t be able to live!”

“……”

……

The moon shone above the canyon, revealing everything with it’s glow. Shining onto the grasses, the branches overhead, and even the stream, it was truly a beautiful sight.

“Rustle…”

Strawberry Matcha landed gently as I stood by the side of the edge of the jungle. Her mouth was opened slightly as she reached out and touched my back, “Boss, why do you always carry around a large black stone? Don’t you get tired?”

I smiled slightly, “The mysteries of heaven cannot be revealed, this is something good!”

TL: Idiom for saying that they can’t tell you/no one but heaven knows.

“Ah, is that so…” Strawberry Matcha giggled, “Boss, let’s continue, that valley still has many Illusionary Butterflies right? You said you’d stay with me for the entire day, don’t you back out of your promise! Otherwise, I won’t ever know how I would be able to train together with you all!”

I nodded, “Yea, by the end of today you will be Lv 35, so fight on!”

“Okay, okay, let’s go Boss!”

……

All of a sudden, Strawberry Matcha stood rooted to her spot and pointed towards the inside of the ravine, “Boss…look over there, there’s an extremely large butterfly, is…is that a BOSS?!”