Reign of the Hunters
Chapter 17: The Mysterious Ring

Ye Ci did not agree to Dong Yin’s words and instead glanced at He Xiao was still smiling at her. “It’s no big deal. To me, it’s just friends playing a game together. We could take care of each other. It’s ok if you have other plans, we can add each other as friends. It’s the same anyways.”

“Ok, I’ll join your guild.” Ye Ci gave her answer.

Her decision to join Steel Blooded Battle Spear was not because of her guilt for her past life’s betrayal. It was because of Yi Cang, Dong Yin, and Liu Chang. She did not have to do everything alone if she joined them.

“I told you she would agree!” Liu Chang hollered, hugging Ye Ci and smiling at Dong Yin.

Ye Ci laughed along and the five of them continued their meal with glee.

He Xiao parted with the four after the meal. Ye Ci was planning to continue leveling up but Dong Yin proposed a trip to the nearby theme park. The four of them went to the theme park for an entire day before finally parting ways at 8 pm.

Ye Ci did not log into the game that night. She slept after giving her parents a phone call.

Ye Ci slept like the dead that night. Even her circadian rhythm failed to wake her up. It was already midday before she had finally woken up.

After a light meal, Ye Ci tidied herself up and logged into the game.

Ye Ci received a private message right after she went online. It was from Golden Man, asking her if she had left the newbie village.

Ye Ci was still in Wolf Canyon.

“We’re going to explore the Abandoned Mine in Moonfall City. Are you free?”

“It’s not possible at the moment. I’m still at the spot where I went offline that day. I need quite some time to get to Moonfall City from here.” Ye Ci calculated the distance between her location and Moonfall City. She needed at least two hours to get to Moonfall City.

“Ok then, we’ll go first. Remember to get in touch when you have the time.” Golden Man said in a regretful tone and cut off the voice connection.

Ye Ci surveyed her surroundings. Frodo was still sitting at the same spot. She did not mind him and was preparing to leave. Frodo shrieked unexpectedly, “Hey! Big one, you’re walking away with my stuff!”

Ye Ci was baffled. She turned around and saw a furious Frodo, “What have I taken away from you? I gave that ladder back to you.”

“Hmph! Frodo knew not to trust the wretched Elves. They never speak the truth!” Frodo was so angry that he jumped up and down, waving his fists at Ye Ci. “My ring! My precious ring! It’s with you!”

Ring? Ye Ci produced the bound Black Ring from and asked, “Do you happen to be talking about this?”

“Yes! This is it!’ Frodo rushed towards Ye Ci in an attempt to grab the Black Ring. She hid the ring away and asked, “Don’t you think you have some explanations to make? Like…what exactly is this ring?”

Something that was important to a hidden NPC, and what’s more, one that automatically bound itself to her… There must be something more to the Grey equipment than what it appeared to be. Ye Ci could feel that the ring was nothing ordinary, but she would need to figure out the way to discover its secrets from Frodo.

Frodo glared at Ye Ci, looking as if he could spew fire from his eyes. He breathed heavily and his face was so red that it looked like he would explode. “Frodo will never tell you where that thing came from! Frodo will never tell you that the precious thing is related to the Dark Lord Naga!”

Ye Ci nearly laughed out loud. There was a Gnome NPC that had been labeled as log-headed by the players.

Ye Ci held the ring up high. Frodo tried his best to grab the ring away from her, but his height denied him success. Ye Ci grinned and patted Frodo’s head, “Yeap, you’ll never tell me that the ring has anything to do with Dark Lord Naga…”

Ye Ci kept the ring into her inventory and pretended that she was leaving the area. She did not expect it when Frodo jumped at her and shouted, “Give it back to Frodo!”

Frodo’s name was green. It meant that the players could not attack him. His tackle caught Ye Ci off balance and she nearly fell. She managed to steady herself, trying to dislodge the log-head.

Gnomes are known by their small size and high level of intelligence. Of course, their intelligence had nothing to do with them being log-heads. Although having a disadvantage in size, Frodo held on to Ye Ci with dear life. In the end, he could not escape the fate of being grabbed by the hem of his shirt.

Ye Ci was gasping for air by then. Having low strength was such a pain in the neck. If only she was a warrior, she could’ve sent Frodo flying.

She lifted Frodo away from her by the hem of his shirt. Frodo furiously swung his fist at Ye Ci but he was just too small.

“I have something to ask you.”

“No! Frodo will not speak to this sly Elf!”

Ye Ci raised her eyebrows. The NPC did not understand the situation that he was in. She did not waste her breath on him. She shook Frodo up and down violently and the Gnome screamed in fear.

Gnomes had very sharp voices. With Frodo’s screaming, Ye Ci felt as if her eardrums were going to burst.

“Kind and beautiful Elf, what do you need from me?” Although Gnomes were log-headed, they were still afraid to die. His behavior showed a 180 degree change after Ye Ci stopped shaking him.

“What is this?” Ye Ci took out the ring and showed it to Frodo.

Frodo had been seeing stars before, but his vision recovered immediately. He could only look helplessly at the ring and replied, “It’s something precious.”

“What is so precious about it?”

“It’s something that can open Dark Lord Naga’s vault…” Frodo rubbed his hands together, staring at the ring, his face red. “Through the ring, one can acquire the power of Naga, the power of world domination.”

“How do I get it?”

Frodo gasped as if he was roused from some sort of trance. He looked at Ye Ci with a surprised expression and covered his mouth. “I can’t tell you, I can’t tell you.”

Try as she might, Ye Ci could not force an answer out of Frodo aside, leaving him to mumble on “I can’t tell you” incessantly. There was no longer any clues from him. Ye Ci let go of her hands and Frodo fell onto the ground with a thump. Without looking back, Ye Ci jumped onto one of the branches and left Wolf Canyon through the dense forest.

The power of Naga?

Dark Lord Naga was one of the hidden quests of Fate. There were hints pointing towards him in the early stages of the game, but he only appeared after 9 years of Fate in a hundred-man lvl 100 Dungeon — Death’s Abyss.

Death’s Abyss was the biggest Dungeon cluster in Fate. This cluster of Dungeons had a very high difficulty. Even before her rebirth, no guild in the world had ever cleared even the easiest introduction Dungeon to the Death’s Abyss dungeons, the Gates of Flame.

A ring that had something to do with Naga? A ring that gave its bearer the power of Naga? Ye Ci could still remember the time when players attempted to clear the Gates of Flame. Naga was always hidden behind the dungeon’s BOSSes. Nobody had ever laid eyes on him. His mere breath could annihilate an entire squadron of players.

Naga’s strength could no longer be described by the word “insane.” It was absolutely overpowered.

How could this ring contain the power of Naga? Despite her doubts, Ye Ci was very excited. However, the ring seemed normal no matter how she looked at it.

A flash of light appeared from the ring after Ye Ci wore it on her finger. She took a closer look at the ring, and noticed that its stats changed.

Mysterious Ring:

Grey Equipment

Strength +2

Level Required: 0

Bound to: Gongzi You

Special Attributes: Growable

The stats of the ring are growable! Ye Ci was stunned. Only God-Tier equipments in Fate possessed this attribute. How could a Grey Equipment possess such a quality?

Could Frodo be telling the truth?

Ye Ci did not put too much thought into it. Naga’s appearance was still a long way away. She had no need to delve into the matter. The additional 2 points in Strength was satisfying enough for Ye Ci, who had been longing for an increase in her attack damage.