Chapter Thirty-Five: The Extra

"Meow-me-ow! Lin, you're way too heavy! You're going to be the death of me!" Yang Qi complained. Given the context, the remark was certainly prone to wild imagination! She completely ignored the Ghost King, which only made him all the more furious.

"Swish!" The Ghost King pointed his sword, gritting his teeth. "How dare you ignore me! I will tear you both into a thousand pieces!"

"Hey—! Are you stupid or something?" Lin Zheng stared at the Ghost King with a mocking grin.

Calling him stupid!? The Ghost King roared, ready to charge forward and shred Lin Zheng to pieces. But suddenly, "Thwack! Thwack!" Two swords pierced through his chest. The Ghost King's expression of rage vanished instantly, replaced by one of sheer bewilderment. Seeing this, both Lin Zheng and Yang Qi let out wicked chuckles. "You little punk, still don't believe me when I call you stupid? You didn't even stop to think who your real opponents were. Got a taste of your own medicine now, didn't you?" Lin Zheng gloated.

That was exactly right. The two had been deliberately distracting the Ghost King to create an opening for the City Lord and the little Princess. The brainless fool had fallen for the trap so easily, getting run through by the duo! And it didn't end there. The two NPCs pulled their swords out with a "shing," swung them again, and—brutal! Absolutely brutal! They cleanly severed both of the Ghost King’s arms!

"Aaaah—!" The armless Ghost King let out a blood-curdling scream as blood spurted like a fountain. He spun around, kicked the two people behind him away, and leaped toward the entrance of the banquet hall, clearly intending to make a run for it. Before leaving, the Ghost King didn't forget to cast a menacing glare. "Lingmeng! Tianshuang! I will surely have my revenge for these severed arms! And you two wretched worms, I will definitely tear you into a thousand pieces in the future!"

"Ding! Triggered quest 'The Ghost King's Revenge'. Difficulty: S-Rank Superior. During this quest, the penalty for being killed by the Ghost King is doubled. Quest duration: 240 hours of player online time. Quest objective: Kill the Ghost King within 240 hours of online time!"

"Crap! You can't be serious!" Yang Qi cried out in shock upon hearing the notification. Being hunted by an Level 80 Purple-Gold boss for 10 days, with the penalty of losing two levels every time she died!? This was insane! At this stage of the game, let alone one person, even an entire guild might not be able to handle this guy! That was a Third-Transfer boss!

Lin Zheng, who had heard the notification as well, was much more composed. He immediately shouted to Yang Qi, "Rogue, Shadow Step! Now!" Hearing this, Yang Qi snapped back to reality. He was right—the best time to resolve the crisis was now! Without hesitation, she activated "Shadow Step," instantly knocking the Ghost King—who had just finished his threats—into the air, and followed up with a "Greatsword Stab" that sent him flying back into the hall! Lin Zheng went all out too! If they couldn't kill this guy now, they’d be spending the next ten days in constant terror! Dismantling his Moon-Shatter blade, Lin Zheng charged forward, shouting, "What are you two waiting for? Hurry up and finish him off!" At Lin Zheng's roar, the City Lord and the little Princess snapped out of their stupor and charged toward the Ghost King. Their blades struck him, dealing terrifying damage—about 150,000 per hit! Lin Zheng clicked his tongue in awe and brought his foot down in a "Stomp" onto the fallen Ghost King. "Boom!" A very respectable damage number floated up: -34! At least it broke his defense! And to their surprise, it even triggered a stun effect!

"Haha! Die already!" Seeing the Ghost King stunned, Yang Qi laughed excitedly. How could the City Lord and the Princess let such a good opportunity go to waste? They didn't need Lin Zheng to tell them twice; they raised their swords and hacked away wildly! Lin Zheng kept up the pressure as well. After firing off a "Moon Soul," he stopped his assault and kept his eyes glued to the Ghost King’s health bar. As the Ghost King’s HP hit rock bottom under the NPCs' relentless attacks, Lin Zheng finally made his move. He stomped down with a "Burst" right onto that face he found so infuriating. "Boom!" After the blow, a charred patch appeared on the banquet hall floor, and the Ghost King’s head had been crushed like a rotten watermelon!

"Ugh—! You're too brutal! Can't you be a bit more harmonious!?" Yang Qi said, looking at the mess that used to be the Ghost King’s head.

"Can't help it. I wanted to be harmonious, too, but the harmonious moves wouldn't kill him!" Lin Zheng shrugged helplessly. Just then, they heard the system notification:

"The Ghost King has been killed by Yiping the Taoist. Quest 'The Ghost King's Revenge' completed. Reward: 2,000 gold coins, Level +2, obtained class title 'Ghost Deity Warrior'!"

The two looked at each other, their eyes filled with wild joy! A reward of 2,000 gold coins! And +2 levels! What an incredibly generous reward! As for the final reward, the class title—Lin Zheng had gotten one yesterday but didn't actually know what it was for, though he figured it couldn't be bad!

"Rogue, what's a class title used for? The official website didn't have any info on it!" Lin Zheng asked.

"You don't know!?" Yang Qi asked, surprised, but then she caught herself. "Right, you didn't play the first *Phantom Spirit*, did you? It's like this." She explained the concept to him. There were no "hidden classes" in *Phantom Spirit*, but there were various class titles. Once you equipped a title, you would gain corresponding stat bonuses and specific skills. "So, class titles are rare and valuable items. Having a powerful class title is basically like having a powerful hidden class! Get it now?"

"That intense?" Lin Zheng was surprised. "Then, how do you equip it?"

"Open your character attribute interface. In the bottom right corner, there's an option for 'Title Selection'. Just pick the one you want and confirm!" Yang Qi explained. She opened her interface as she spoke, and Lin Zheng saw a shining character for "Ghost" appear before her name—it looked quite cool! Seeing this, Lin Zheng opened his own interface and found the option in the corner. Clicking it revealed two icons: a "Ghost" character like Yang Qi's, and a blue ice crystal. Both came with descriptions:

**Ghost Deity Warrior:** Physical Attack +10%, Defense +10%, Max HP +10%, Critical Hit Rate +5%, Attack Speed +5%. Damage against undead-type monsters increased by 30%, EXP gained from killing undead monsters increased by 30%. Skills: Ghost Deity, Death Charge!

**Ice Fighter:** Adds Ice damage equal to 10% of maximum Physical Attack, Ice damage against targets +50%, Defense +10%, Fire Resistance +200, Ice Resistance +400. 30% chance to inflict Freezing Strike on attacks, reducing the target's movement speed by 20% for 10 seconds. Skills: Ice Pierce, Freezing Aura!

"Wow, that's really powerful!" Lin Zheng exclaimed. These titles were absolutely top-tier—well worth the high-level reward! Lin Zheng equipped the Ice Fighter title; it had higher damage and was well-suited for PvP. Only then did the two have the heart to check the Ghost King's body. Even though Lin Zheng had landed the killing blow, earning them massive EXP, the boss hadn't dropped a single item!

"Pah! And you call yourself a Ghost King? You didn't even drop a hair!" Yang Qi kicked the body in frustration. They’d gone through all that trouble for just a bit of EXP—it was truly stingy!

"Say, did you notice something?" Lin Zheng kicked the body as well, wearing a mocking grin. Yang Qi paused. "Notice what?"

"The name!" Lin Zheng pointed at the Ghost King. "We killed one of his subordinates earlier, and he had a name—'Demon Wind.' This guy didn't even have a name; he was just called 'Ghost King.' Turns out he was just an extra in the background, and you were expecting him to drop loot!?"

"Holy crap!" Yang Qi’s eyes widened. That reason was too hilarious! But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like that was exactly the case!

"Two brave warriors, thank you for helping us eliminate this evil villain!" The City Lord stepped forward to address them. His humble attitude was not bad—very good, actually! Lin Zheng and Yang Qi were quite satisfied.

"You're too kind! We were just acting on someone's behalf," Lin Zheng said with a polite bow.

"On someone's behalf?" The City Lord blinked, then suddenly realized. "Oh—you mean Wang Hu!"

"Exactly! He was the one who brought us here!"

"Princess! City Lord! Are you both alright!?" Wang Hu finally came running in. Lin Zheng immediately thought to himself, *You coward, leaving everything to others and only showing up now to suck up to them. Whatever, I'll let it slide since you got me this reward...*

"Wang Hu, you did well this time. I will reward you handsomely. You may leave now," the City Lord said with satisfaction. Wang Hu acknowledged the order and retreated. The City Lord then turned to Lin Zheng. "I assume Wang Hu promised you a reward for your help. He is just a servant and has little to offer you, so allow me to pay the reward instead!" As soon as he finished, Lin Zheng heard the notification:

"Quest 'End of the Night Banquet' completed. Reward: 200 gold coins, Level +1, Gold-grade equipment 'Night Raid Leather Armor'. Extra reward from the City Lord for killing the Ghost King: 1,000 gold coins, Dark Gold-grade item 'Elemental Crystal'!"

Before the two could even finish celebrating, the little Princess, Lingmeng, spoke up. The young girl blinked her beautiful eyes and said with a childish innocence, "You two helped me a lot this time. Since the City Lord has already rewarded you, I can't be too stingy either. Here, I have two land deeds, I'll give them to you! Once you reach Hongnan City, you can take these and exchange them for houses!" She handed over two land deeds. Lin Zheng took them, dumbfounded. There was no system notification for this—this wasn't a quest reward, but a gift from the Princess just because she liked them. The game allowed this kind of thing?!

Exiting the City Lord's manor, Lin Zheng and Yang Qi looked at each other and then jumped at the same time! "Oh yeah! We're rich!" They really had struck it rich this time! The quest rewards alone totaled 3,000 gold coins—Lin Zheng got even more since he was the one who accepted the banquet quest. Then the City Lord generously gave them each a piece of Dark Gold-grade gear! Plus the two land deeds from Lingmeng. If word of these rewards got out, it would make countless people green with envy! And that wasn't even mentioning the levels! Killing that extra-character Ghost King had leveled them up by 1, and completing the quest added another 2 levels. In just this short amount of time, they had gained 3 levels—enough to make all those players grinding their lives away on monsters die of jealousy!!