"How much time is left until the instance ends?"
Gao Ming glanced at Liang Jie, who replied, "About another hour."
Bai Ye asked, "Are there no more bosses to kill?"
Liang Jie said, "The fastest ones will refresh in three hours and forty minutes."
Bai Ye nodded and then said, "Then let's head back to town first."
Bai Ye wanted to finish things here and leave quickly. However, he still needed to gather all the items he planned to take out before he could leave.
Therefore, the first step was to formulate a plan for boss hunting. Instances were also a good source of high-quality red items.
Once they returned to town, they would no longer have to worry about people from the Cang Long Guild.
The towns in the game could be considered safe zones. However, unlike the false safe zones in the world battlefield, the towns in the game were true safe zones.
Fighting was strictly prohibited here. Any attack would be ineffective, causing no damage, and unable to destroy anything within the town. There were also guards.
In short, nothing they did would have any effect, and they would likely be kicked out.
Upon entering the town, Gao Ming first had people take stock of their items.
With twelve people, and each needing to take out three red-quality items, they would need a total of thirty-six red-quality items.
"The harvest from killing the Earth Spider was immense. We currently have twenty-two red-quality items..."
Gao Ming looked at Bai Ye, inquiring with his eyes.
After all, Bai Ye was also among the twelve people.
"I only need one," Bai Ye said. "I just got two items I want to take out. Can I pick and choose?"
"No problem, pick whatever you want, pick whatever you want!"
Gao Ming was as obedient as a child bride, agreeing to whatever Bai Ye said.
Bai Ye, of course, didn't actually want to pick items. This was a scheme to get Wang Zhi Caibao to collect another wave of "leeks," so he couldn't pick now.
Therefore...
"No rush," Bai Ye said. "Let's gather the items first."
Gao Ming nodded and then said, "Liang Jie, you tell us."
Liang Jie explained, "A boss usually drops at least one red-quality item, regardless of its quality, as a guaranteed drop. If we're lucky, we might get two or three."
"Based on this ratio, we only need to kill a maximum of fourteen bosses to get enough. But based on experience, ten bosses should definitely be enough. It's not like every single boss will only drop the guaranteed item, right?"
Bai Ye asked, "What about the game instances?"
Liang Jie replied, "The drop rate is similar to the outside bosses. However, the two instances on the third floor each have five bosses and four bosses respectively. They refresh along with the instance itself. Unlike wild bosses, which require precise timing and hunting them one by one."
Bai Ye said, "Then let's occupy one instance. Your numbers and strength shouldn't be enough to occupy two simultaneously."
Liang Jie asked, "The Cang Long Guild?"
Bai Ye followed up, "If you enter the instance, they won't be able to get in, right? To occupy an instance exclusively, they would have to camp at the entrance, correct?"
Liang Jie confirmed, "Correct."
Bai Ye suggested, "I'll go to the instance entrance and kill them all, or disperse them. Wouldn't that work?"
Liang Jie felt speechless.
While the logic was sound, the Cang Long Guild was the elite team of the current number one force in the world battlefield. Each of their members possessed top-tier individual skills and had trained together for a long time, developing excellent teamwork. It was not appropriate to speak so casually.
What made Liang Jie uncomfortable was that he couldn't refute Bai Ye because Bai Ye had actually accomplished such feats before.
Gao Ming, however, was more familiar with Bai Ye and had no qualms about speaking his mind. He said, "Bai Ye, I know you are very powerful. You did repel the Cang Long Guild members before, but that wasn't their main force."
"Instances are highly valuable. Occupying two instances is equivalent to securing nine bosses. Therefore, the Cang Long Guild's focus will inevitably be on the two game instances."
"However, there's a player limit for instances. The extra people who can't enter the game instances will have nothing to do but come looking for trouble with us. So, what do you think is the standard for being able to enter a game instance?"
What was the standard?
It was strength, of course!
Gao Ming was subtly reminding Bai Ye that the group Bai Ye had easily defeated were likely the weaker members among those the Cang Long Guild had sent into the virtual game restricted zone.
Being able to defeat them easily didn't mean he could easily defeat the other members of the Cang Long Guild.
"It's alright. If I can't defeat them, it's my problem," Bai Ye said, pointing at Liang Jie. "Can you guys handle the bosses within the instance?"
It wasn't that Bai Ye didn't trust them, but these guys weren't even a match for the Earth Spider.
While they wouldn't necessarily be killed by the Earth Spider, they would undoubtedly lose some lives.
"We can," Liang Jie replied. "We reached it before the Cang Long Guild. We actually pioneered one of the game instances, and we successfully cleared it back then. It will just be a bit slower."
Bai Ye nodded and then instructed, "Create a table and plan out the timing. Since the bosses in one instance aren't enough to gather the items, list the bosses we can hunt before the instance opens."
"If we can't gather enough before the instance opens, then list how many more bosses we need to hunt after the instance opens, based on their refresh times. However, the fourteen you mentioned earlier is incorrect. Don't forget the guardian bosses on the third floor."
"Right!" Liang Jie slapped his forehead. "Regardless of the quality, as long as we want red-quality items, the guardian boss on the third floor guarantees at least three red-quality items, and can give up to five!"
Liang Jie began sketching on a piece of paper as he spoke.
"That should be enough!" Liang Jie declared. "Before the instance opens, we can still kill two bosses: Qing Xing Deng and Huang Chuan Zhi Zhu. Then, we'll occupy the five bosses within the instance and the guardian boss on the third floor. It's highly likely to be enough, unless we are extremely unlucky and only get the guaranteed drops."
Bai Ye said, "It's okay. We can decide based on the number of items after the instance ends. If we have eleven, we'll go directly for the guardian boss. Even if we only get the guaranteed three red-quality items, it will be enough for us to gather the thirty-six red-quality items."
Gao Ming nodded and added, "If it's not enough, we can consider hunting one or two more bosses. However, these are minor issues, merely costing more time. The main problem is the Cang Long Guild..."
"It's alright, as I said, if I can't handle it, the responsibility is mine," Bai Ye said, clapping his hands. "Time is almost up, let's get moving. First, let's kill Qing Xing Deng and Huang Chuan Zhi Zhu, and then we'll go to the instance to find the Cang Long Guild members!"
The others exchanged glances and then became excited.
They had been bullied by the Cang Long Guild members for a long time. Now, Bai Ye was planning to lead them to confront them directly. How could they not be excited?
...