The girls' mouths fell open. They all looked stunned beyond words.

I was more or less feeling the same thing. The Ghost Chariot's stats were ridiculously good, and its Attack growth was a perfect 10—whether there was a higher score than this, I did not know. Objectively speaking, its Attack star rating was even higher than my Phantom Wolf King's, although my Phantom Wolf King was still stronger because it was an Immortal Rank boss.

……

Lin Yixin's lips were pressed together, and her eyes were s.h.i.+ning with a dazzling light. She said softly, "Look, it can learn Ghost Chariot Slash at Level 100…"

Murong Mingyue commented, "It has a BN of 338! This is crazy! Back in the day I thought a pet with 100 BN was top-tier already, but this blows all of them out of the water!"

Lian Xin said, "It's true that the Ghost Chariot has great stats, but its true value lies in its Ghost Chariot Slash, am I right?"

Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "You are. Ghost Chariot Slash ignores 50% of the target's Defense, and it affects all units within a 5-yard radius. Imagine a powerful warrior hitting everyone around him with Barrier Break, and then imagine 3 to 5 Ghost Chariots unleas.h.i.+ng Ghost Chariot Slash at the same time. Is there any s.h.i.+eld formation in the world that can withstand a combo like this?"

I did just that as I stared at the Creature Holding Stone. A while later, I broke out of my daydream and asked, "It'll be epic alright. However, I don't need the Ghost Chariot since I already have the Phantom Wolf King. Is there anyone who wants this?"

Lian Xin gave it some thought before replying, "I'll take it if no one wants it, big brother Lu Chen. My Stone Giant King is a bit poor at this stage of the game, while Beiming's Thunder Beast, Sister Mingyue's Ironwing Dragon, and dumb girl's ice dragon are plenty powerful in their own right. By the time we reach Dharan City, it should be Level 100 and good enough to partic.i.p.ate in a fight."

"Alright!"

I tossed the Creature Holding Stone right into Lian Xin's hands before staring at the stair-like mountain ranges and piles of dragon bones at the distance. I said, "This barren highland is pretty big, so let's keep searching. We still need to collect more Ghost Chariot Cards, and who knows, this might not be the only baby Ghost Chariot we'll run into along the way."

Lin Yixin smiled in agreement. "Yes. b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+eld Domain's best specialty is probably its unusually high rate of Level 1 pets. We are lucky that we get to be the first to grind a blessed zone like this. Once we've swept this whole map clean, there won't be much left for the latecomers anymore."

"But of course!" I laughed. "We are the ones who gathered all nine Tiger Soul Essences at Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. It's only natural that the system rewardS us for our efforts!"

"Mn."

……

We continued. This time, we made sure to check every pile of bones be it dragon or monster. We soon discovered that there was always a Ghost Chariot lurking beneath a gigantic skeleton, and while they were not Level 1 baby Ghost Chariots, they were still Level 210 dread-rank mobs with high experience yield and excellent loot table. The reason I knew this was because our third Ghost Chariot dropped a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade sword that no one needed.

Swhoos.h.!.+

While we were fighting, Lian Xin brought her little b.l.o.o.d.y umbrella out of her summoning s.p.a.ce to leech experience. The cute little thing jumped out of the hexagram and rotated slowly in midair. Since it was just Level 1, it was the size of a human palm and looked very cute to say the least. Lian Xin set it to "Follow" so that it would stay close to her and attack the enemy. Also, she changed its name to "Good Little Parasol", which was a… "fantastic" name in my personal opinion.

A man and woman's naming sense differed drastically from one another. If it was me, I would've named the Ghost Chariot something powerful like "The Guillotine", "Hegemon Umbrella", "Swimming Dragon", "Roaming Dragon" or more. Names like "Pink Little Mushroom" or "Fiery Little Umbrella" would never cross my mind even if I renamed it a million times.

When I killed the fourth Ghost Chariot, "Good Little Parasol" jumped a ton of levels and made Lian Xin smile. "Heehee, look at all this experience! My pet skyrocketed to Level 14 in one go!"

"Of course. This is the experience of an adult Ghost Chariot!"

I said while picking up a Ghost Chariot Card—the second one thus far—and threw it into Lin Yixin's hands. Now we both had a Ghost Chariot Card each.

Once again, the mere thought of the card's effects excited me greatly. It was exactly the kind of card us melee damage dealers appreciated the most!

A dragon's skeleton was incredibly huge and long. To put it into perspective, we killed a total of 27 Ghost Chariots as we traveled from the head to the tail. We also obtained 11 pieces of equipment and 4 Ghost Chariot Cards in total. After I gave Beiming Xue and Lian Xin a card each, we all used the cards to buff ourselves. When an effect states "attack power" and doesn't specify what type of attack it is, it usually encompa.s.ses both physical and magic attacks. It was the same with Defense ignore effect. That was why both Lian Xin and Beiming Xue could use the card. Again, it was safe to say that we had never encountered a card this OP until today.

We continued our journey, but we didn't walk far before another Ghost Chariot popped out of the ground and blocked our way. Once again, the text floating above the mob was absolutely a delight to look at—

Level: 1

Lin Yixin was right. These baby Ghost Chariots were definitely appearing more frequently than usual. a.s.suming that we could catch enough baby Ghost Chariots, we might even be able to build a Ghost Chariot Legion. Just imagine Little Piglet trying to facetank our people with Vajra, only to be met by a horde of Ghost Chariots that can use an AoE skill that ignored half his Defense. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that this pet was his living nightmare!

Again, no words were necessary as we all pulled out our Sealing Cards. Five hexagrams appeared beneath the baby Ghost Chariot's handle, and two rounds later, the pet obediently flew into Murong Mingyue's Creature Holding Stone.

This was the second baby Ghost Chariot we caught, and it was definitely not going to be the last. We soldiered on.

……

To say that we went all out was an understatement. After trekking through d.a.m.n near the entire place for 6+ hours, we finally murdered every Ghost Chariot in the valley and sealed a total of 82 baby Ghost Chariots. There were 29 baby Ghost Chariots in my bag alone.

I checked the time and noted that it was past 3 am already. All the girls had bloodshot eyes at this point.

Murong Mingyue lowered her scepter and raised her left arm while stretching, unknowingly exposing the shape of her flat tummy and round b.r.e.a.s.t.s while doing so. For me at least, hard grinding like this was nothing if I got to enjoy sceneries like this every once in a while.

"I can't do this any longer. Can we take a nap?" Murong Mingyue suggested.

Lin Yixin spurred her mountain to the foot of a mountain range and gazed ahead. She said, "Yes, there's no hurry. We should reach the Dharan City ruins after we pa.s.s this hill. Since that is where the true challenge awaits, I suggest we fully rest and meet here in 6 to 9 hours. It's Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger and his goons after this, and I would rather fight them while we're fully invigorated!"

"True. We can use this opportunity to restore some equipment durability. Alright, let's log out right here."

"Yes."

According to Heavenblessed's rules, all equipment that was Earth-grade or higher would slowly regenerate durability as time pa.s.sed. For example, my Cyan Netherworld Sword could regenerate around 25% durability if I didn't use it for 24 hours. Great longevity was one of the benefits of high-level equipment.

Everyone set down their tent and prepared to log out of the game.

After I crawled into my tent, I took a moment to check out my friend list and noted that He Yi was still online. It looked like she had jumped 3 levels while I wasn't looking. As expected, my beautiful guild leader's grind speed increased drastically after I obtained the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear!

Beep!

I sent her a message: "Eve, we're logging out. You should sleep soon as well."

"Oh, sure. I'm leaving this place to Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng anyway. Chaos Moon already went to sleep 3 hours ago, and she'll be replacing them around 6 am. Also, we've caught over 4000 baby Mingshes during this time. Everyone's so excited that they could hardly sleep a wink!"

"Even still, humans can't operate without sleep, you know. Anyway, I'll show you another super pet when we come back from our main quest. Trust me when I say it's several hundred times stronger than the baby Mingshe!"

"Okay. I'm logging out now!"

"Yes."

I summoned the system fairy and logged out after that.

I felt a bit dizzy the moment I pulled off the helmet. After blanking out for two minutes or so, I stepped out of my room and found He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue already loitering in the living room. They were cooking some porridge to fill up their bellies before going to bed. I at least couldn't sleep with a growling stomach.

He Yi was lying lazily on the sofa. She was wearing chocolate-colored pyjamas, and the way her chest rose and fell slowly as she breathed looked absolutely perfect. The skin seemingly glowing under the white lamp only served to accentuate her beauty even further.

I walked behind He Yi, put my hands on her shoulders and slowly ma.s.saged them. She seemed to know that it was me because she kept her eyes closed, grasped my hand with her own and asked me, "New year is right around the corner, Lu Chen. Have you figured where you'll be pa.s.sing the year?"

I gave it some thought before answering, "I think I want to go home. It's been a while since I visited father and third uncle."

He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yes, you should. It'll be New Year's Eve in just a couple of days… I would accompany you on your trip, but I don't think mother will allow it…"

"It's fine. It's only two or three days."

"Heh…"

He Yi turned her head and pressed her cheeks to the back of my hand. Her warm breath tickled my skin, but I couldn't deny that I enjoyed the moment of peace very much.

……

Beiming Xue said, "I already told my parents that I won't be coming home this year. They're going to travel to France for a vacation anyway, so I may as well keep you company, big bro!"

Lian Xin smiled. "Mn mn, I'm going to check with my parents and see if I can skip New Year's as well."

Suddenly, He Yi rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around my own. Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned across the sofa and kissed me once on the cheeks, blus.h.i.+ng. "You know what? Screw it. Just this once, I'm going wherever you're going for New Year's Eve, Lu Chen. I'm an adult and I can do whatever I want. Hmph!"

Murong Mingyue walked out of the kitchen at the perfect moment to tease He Yi. "Oh, you sinful man. Look what you've done to our He Yi…"

He Yi's blush grew even deeper. "Don't laugh! Anyway, Beiming, Lian Xin and I are celebrating New Year's at Lu Chen's house, and that's that! We should also find some time to shop for the preparations!"

At this point, I was the one who was getting embarra.s.sed, so I nodded quickly and said, "No problem. We'll do that right after we're done with b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+eld Domain."