Heading North All the Way

“What? You’re going to the two cities in the northern fourth stage?”

Zhang Meng was so startled when he received Liu Xuan’s message that he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Clearing campaign stages quickly was one thing. Everyone could still understand that.

But now the campaign hadn’t even started, and Liu Xuan was already planning to attack ahead of time?

It was like everyone else was still playing version 1.0 while he had somehow forced his way into the new map from version 2.0.

Who played a game like that?

“You’re trying to exploit another bug?!!”

Weren’t you worried about getting your account banned by the system?

“Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean, exploit a bug? This is called making reasonable use of the game mechanics. Mechanics! Mechanics! Do you understand? Besides, the NPC said it was allowed.”

Finch: I never said that!

I even tried to talk you out of it!

But Zhang Meng had no idea what Finch had actually said. Besides, since Liu Xuan was determined to go, he had no reason to stop him.

“Those two places look pretty far away. Can you make it in time? What if the promotion defense battle starts here and you haven’t returned yet?”

“I should be able to make it. If things really don’t work out, I’ll temporarily leave the party to increase my movement speed.”

Liu Xuan had never expected to capture both cities on this trip anyway.

“I’ll go take a look first and treat it as scouting. I happen to have a lead that might be related to changing classes, so I can investigate it along the way. If I can’t take both cities, I’ll take one. If I can’t take even one, I’ll use the trip to level up. The monsters over there are higher level, and no one will be competing with me for them. It’s perfect.”

In short, he would kill three birds with one stone. There was no way he could lose out.

Judging from the distance on the map, excluding the time spent fighting monsters, he should be able to reach one of the cities after traveling continuously for more than ten hours.

There were still roughly sixty hours before the promotion defense battle, so theoretically, he had a chance to capture both cities.

Of course, it was impossible to say for certain.

He would have to fight monsters along the way, and there was no telling how long it would take to capture a city. If he decided there wasn’t enough time, Liu Xuan would temporarily disband the party and rely on 【Fleet of Foot】 to hurry there.

After all, with more than twenty-seven times the normal experience gain, everyone should be at a fairly high level after a day or so. Even without the effect of 【Destruction Aura】, they wouldn’t be completely helpless.

No matter what, advancing the main campaign was definitely the top priority.

……

And so, the plan was settled.

Before Liu Xuan left, the village chief stopped him.

He had been so overwhelmed by emotion earlier that he hadn’t had the chance to properly thank Liu Xuan.

“Warrior, thank you so much this time. You’ve finally put an old man’s mind at ease. I have no use for this anymore, so I’d like to give it to you. I hope you won’t think it’s worthless.”

As he spoke, the village chief pulled a long, narrow strip of white cloth from his sleeve.

“What is this?”

Liu Xuan took it and unfolded it. It was a slender flag edged in gold, with a tree painted in the center.

【Banner of Life (Special Item): Plant this banner in a location to grant all allied units within a 100-meter radius the effect of recovering 100 health every 2 seconds. The banner can be stored and reused, but while deployed, it can be destroyed by enemies.】

This item wasn’t particularly useful to Liu Xuan himself.

Recovering 100 health every two seconds was simply too little.

It would be decent for the others to take along while leveling, though.

However, after reading the item description, Liu Xuan suddenly thought of a special way to use the banner.

The objective of the promotion defense battle also revolved around a flag.

If the attacking side didn’t know what the flag looked like…

Heh heh.

…..

Since he happened to be at the outpost, Liu Xuan stopped by and killed a nearby level-ten monster, increasing the damage of 【Thunder Aura】 by another 1,300.

As for the other low-level monsters around the novice village, there was no need to go out of his way to hunt them.

It simply wasn’t worth the time.

He might as well use that time to kill a few high-level monsters in the north. Each one would be worth dozens of those low-level monsters.

After leaving the outpost, Liu Xuan crossed the river again and hurried toward Orenburg.

The reason this city had become their first target for recapture was that it provided the most convenient route farther north.

Along the way, Liu Xuan killed every new monster he encountered. At other times, he simply buried his head and hurried onward.

By the time he reached Orenburg, the damage of 【Thunder Aura】 had already soared to 28,000.

He also took advantage of the opportunity to kill a 【Lesser Destroyer】 here, immediately raising the damage to 32,000.

Only then did he continue north with satisfaction.

The northern gate of Orenburg was still intact, which surprised Liu Xuan somewhat. He had no idea how the city had originally fallen. Weren’t the monsters supposed to have come from the north?

Why, then, was the gate on this side still in good condition while the southern gate had been destroyed?

Liu Xuan glanced back at Orenburg. It would have been better if he hadn’t looked, because he then noticed that part of the northern city wall had collapsed.

The breach was four or five meters wide. By stepping across the rubble, one could go straight into the city.

In that case, this direction might also become a target for the attacking side during the promotion defense battle.

Liu Xuan clicked his tongue in disappointment. If the enemy attacked from multiple directions, he wouldn’t be able to wipe them all out at once with 【Corpse Explosion】.

The eastern and western sides of Orenburg were flanked by two mountain ranges, with the city squeezed between them.

Heading north meant traveling along the road built between the two ranges.

The road had clearly once been broad and smooth, paved with enormous white stones.

Now, however, the stones were cracked, with weeds growing through the gaps.

There were also rocks and piles of dirt scattered across the road, likely fallen from the mountains on either side.

But these were not the most common things on the road.

There were wrecked wagons and human bones everywhere.

Judging by their direction, they had all been heading toward Orenburg. They had probably been refugees fleeing the city, only to die on the road.

Even now, the road was far from peaceful. Liu Xuan soon encountered his first enemy after leaving the city.

【Carrion Eater】

Level: 23

Attack: 350

Health: 3,800

Armor: 50

Magic Resistance: 45

Skill: 【Bite: The Carrion Eater latches tightly onto an enemy and bites them for an extended period. Deals 200 damage per second and increases its own attack by 10 points, up to a maximum duration of 10 seconds. The duration depends on the target’s Strength.】

The monster looked like a swollen, mold-covered corpse. It lay among the bones on the ground, and although it was fairly conspicuous, one wouldn’t notice its health bar at a glance.

It looked just like an ordinary lifeless corpse. Liu Xuan had only noticed it because of 【Eye of Insight】.

As soon as anyone came near, these creatures would lunge forward at astonishing speed, cling to their target, and gnaw away.

Liu Xuan had 【Thunder Aura】, so it struck two of them to death when they first rushed him. But the aura only triggered once every five seconds, and Liu Xuan was moving quickly because he was eager to get on his way.

He had nearly been caught.

One 【Carrion Eater】 lunged at him and wrapped its arms around empty air before falling behind his feet. Liu Xuan was startled, but he didn’t stop moving.

The monsters along this road were too sparse. It wasn’t worth stopping just to kill one or two.

Besides, 【Carrion Eaters】 were disgusting enough that it was better not to let them brush against him. They would ruin his appetite.

He simply charged straight ahead, leaving it to 【Thunder Aura】 to kill as many as it could.