MMORPG: The Leveling Specialist - Chapter 48

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 When he saw that they were farming monsters at a quick pace, Xiao Ling became more serious and dealt damage like never before.

 Xiao Ling kept unleashing his skills with a shocking precision of the time between spells. When Tian Kuang saw this, he rejoiced inwardly. Spell damage would be increased as long as a player had better equipment, but operation skills and reflexes could only be improved after spending much effort. They were also dependent on a person’s talents. Tian Fei and Tian Xin, on the other hand, were noticing Xiao Ling’s spell damage. Being spellcasters themselves, they often compared the stats of other players to their own. One way to compare this was to look at spell damage.

 If two spellcasters were to converse with each other, the question that would most likely come up would be “How much is your spell damage?”.

 The value of spell damage seemed to be the golden standard against which a spellcaster’s strength was measured. Whether it was a raid quest or the battlefield, spellcasters would usually be asked about their spell damage before they were invited to form a team. If their spell damage was too low, they would not even be considered, even though spell damage was not everything.

 What bewildered Tian Xin and Tian Fei was that Xiao Ling’s spell damage was only lower than theirs by several dozens. It should be known that they were already level 18, a whopping four levels higher than Xiao Ling. They were fully equipped with level 15 rank SSS enchanted equipment. Was a General Warlock that powerful?

 Even if his spell damage had a bonus of the highest of the three Warlock specializations, that merely meant that he would have a Destruction Warlock’s spell damage bonus. This was because the Destruction Warlock was the Warlock specialization that had the highest spell damage bonus. Regardless of how a player’s class changed, the base spell damage would not change. A level 14 spell damage could not have been as high as Xiao Ling’s. The only explanation for this was that Xiao Ling’s spirit was high.

 “Are you going on full-intellect mode?” Tian Fei asked with a peculiar look on his face. Spellcasters rarely chose full-intellect mode because they would not be able to ensure their own safety this way. They would only be bold enough to do that with a powerful and fixed team. However, Xiao Ling usually leveled alone.

 “Yeah,” replied Xiao Ling.

 Tian Fei was slightly stunned. He was surprised that Xiao Ling did that. “Don’t you think that full-intellect mode is irrational?” As a Warlock himself, Tian Fei had his own opinion on the matter.

 “How so?” Xiao Ling asked, puzzled.

 “If you go full-intellect, your attacks and movements will be slower. For example, if you have 10 attribute points, and you pour them all into intellect, you’ll only be raising your spell damage. However, if you add five points to agility, your attacks and movements will be faster. With a higher agility, you can ensure your own safety. Also, with a higher attack speed, the time between your spell attacks will be shortened. Your spell damage output might not be inferior to a full-intellect Warlock’s.” Tian Fei told him his own thoughts. It could be said that this formula was completely correct. That was the reality.

 “I don’t think so,” said Xiao Ling with a shake of his head. It was not because Tian Fei was wrong, it was just that Xiao Ling had a different understanding of things. Although he did not understand the game as well as the other players, he distributed his attribute points as a Warlock after thinking about it. He did not do it blindly.

 “Oh?” Xiao Ling was surprised. “Am I mistaken, perhaps?”

 “No, you’re actually right, and I can’t counter your points. But, what I want to say is, there’s a limit to how much your agility can be raised, and it’s 50%. The limit for the time between spells is one second, and the limit to an increment in agility is 50%, which is 10 yards per second. The more points you add to agility, the less its effects are felt, until the point where it does nothing at all. Hence, adding 2,000 points or 20,000 points to agility won’t make any substantial difference,” said Xiao Ling.

 Tian Fei laughed involuntarily. He said, “But a Warlock will have to be at least level 100 to reach that limit and be equipped with a full set of Artifacts or Heirlooms!”

 “But you can’t deny that some players will achieve this upper limit in agility one day. When your equipment’s agility bonus raises your agility unto that limit, you’ll realize that you’ve wasted all your points on enhancing your agility. Will you regret it then? Perhaps I’m looking too far ahead. Also, it’s worth noting that attack speed isn’t the only measure of a person’s spell damage. For example, if your time between attacks is one second with a spell damage of 50, whereas my time between attacks is two seconds with a spell damage of 100, I’ll only have to cast my spell once, while you’d have to cast yours twice. If something happened in between your attacks and you weren’t able to cast your second one, my spell damage will be twice of yours!” That was Xiao Ling’s opinion. This was Xiao Ling’s understanding of the Warlock class based on the principle of instantaneous spells.

 Tian Fei was silenced for a while. His solid opinion seemed to be faltering now. Indeed, Xiao Ling had a point. A spellcaster’s spell damage per unit time was not calculated based on attack speed. It was only an idealization to say that one’s spell damage output would increase once attack speed was increased.

 Even though many players were aware of the full-intellect mode’s advantages, not many were willing to give up on their agility and stamina. This was because they would not be able to escape the fate of being killed instantly. They were of the opinion that sacrificing some spell damage was a small price to pay in exchange for a guarantee of security. After all, they were not the sole damage dealer in a large raid quest. Also, if they kept themselves alive, their spell damage would increase along with their levels.

 When Xiao Ling looked at Tian Fei and Tian Xin’s pondering expressions, he knew that they were thinking about assigning attribute points. He decided not to disturb them.

 Looking at Tian Fei and Tian Xin’s expressions, Tian Kuang gave a smile. “Let’s sit down here and catch our breaths.” He had heard Xiao Ling’s reasoning as well. Before this, Xiao Ling gave him the impression that he knew almost nothing about the game. Now, it seemed that Xiao Ling had his own take on the game.