ã€ŠOnline Game: The Strongest Landlordã€‹


 Chapter 1

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°mr. landlord! there¡¯s no water!¡±

    the sound coming from downstairs was as miserable as if his father had died and his mother had remarried. it made lao yao, who was bathing upstairs shiver. he couldn¡¯t take the shower anymore. he put on a towel and cursed as he walked out of the bathroom. he grabbed a teacup beside the water dispenser.

    he opened the door and saw that the guy standing downstairs seemed to want to continue shouting. hence, without thinking, lao yao threw the teacup in his hand. ¡°scream my ass!¡±

    ¡°aiya!¡± lao yao¡¯s technique was very accurate. the person downstairs who was shouting immediately fell for it. he naturally swallowed the scream that was about to come out of his mouth.

    ¡°damn it! why are you calling me even if there¡¯s no water? do you think i¡¯m from the water supply company?¡± lao yao walked downstairs and pointed at the guy. ¡°if there¡¯s no water, pay the money! won¡¯t there be water if you pay the money?¡±

    the quarrel between the two of them had also drawn out the other tenants in the villa. seeing that the tenant who had shouted that there was no water was being reprimanded like a grandson by lao yao, the tenants could not help but feel sad. hence, one of the bolder tenants finally stood up and spoke up for him. ¡°landlord, isn¡¯t this a little inhumane? the monthly rent is already so high, and now the utility bills have to be calculated separately. this is not the rule at all!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°nowadays, when renting a house, don¡¯t the utility bills count as part of the rent?¡±

    upon hearing someone¡¯s voice, the others followed suit.

    lao yao glared at the tenants one by one. the fierce look in his eyes immediately made the tenants shut up. when everyone stopped talking, lao yao said, ¡°the utility bills are included in the rent? are you all fools? did the advertisement for rent say that? have you calculated how much water the swimming pool outside needs to change every day? why didn¡¯t you think of how much i would have to spend a day when you were swimming inside?¡±

    the tenants were also a little depressed. when they saw lao yao¡¯s villa being rented out to the public, more than half of them had actually come to enjoy the free private pool. although the monthly rent of 5,000 yuan was indeed a little high, to be honest, this price was indeed very reasonable for such a luxurious villa in s city. therefore, when they signed the contract with lao yao, they did not pay much attention to this.

    however, what the tenants did not expect was that lao yao was really too smart. there were a total of thirteen rooms in the entire villa. other than the one he was staying in, he had rented out the rest. the tenants who originally wanted to enjoy the private pool realized that they had no choice but to enjoy it with the other eleven tenants.

    the private pool had become a public pool. the huge psychological difference naturally made them dissatisfied.

    however, they were helpless. lao yao, as the landlord, was really too domineering. putting aside his aggressive tone for the time being, just by looking at his strong body covered in wounds, no one could be strong in front of him.

    this guy was definitely doing this on purpose! although the tenants also understood it in their hearts, when they really faced lao yao¡¯s aggressive gaze, their unity had long been shattered.

    moreover, these tenants who could afford to rent lao yao¡¯s house were considered top-notch white-collar workers in s city. although they usually received a high salary and looked arrogant in front of others, in the end, when facing someone stronger than them, they would immediately become submissive as if they were facing their superior¡­

    seeing that the quails on the ground had all lowered their heads and stopped talking, lao yao nodded in satisfaction and said, ¡°alright, don¡¯t bother me with such small matters in the future. if you want to rent, continue to rent. if you don¡¯t want to rent, leave!¡±

    with that, lao yao turned around and prepared to return to his room. he had not finished showering.

    unexpectedly, after he said this, the tenant who had been hit on the head by his teacup could not help but explode. he jumped up in exasperation. ¡°damn it, i¡¯m not renting anymore! not only am i being bullied by the boss in the company, but i¡¯m also being bullied by you here!¡±

    these white-collar elites originally wanted to find a good environment to relax after work. now that they could not relax, they naturally had the intention to leave.

    seeing that someone was taking the lead, the others quickly followed and said noisily, ¡°that¡¯s right, we¡¯re not renting anymore!¡±

    seeing that they were arguing, lao yao was not angry. he slowly pulled a chair over and sat down. he took a cigarette from the coffee table and lit it up. he smiled and said, ¡°not renting? of course. then let¡¯s do things according to the contract. back then, it was clearly written that the party who broke the contract had to pay three months of rent as compensation!¡±

    the tenants looked at each other. it was indeed written in the contract. when they signed the contract, they had also paid a three-month deposit. however, they had only stayed for less than a month. if they were to break the contract and leave now, it meant that they would not be able to get back the three-month deposit.

    just as they were hesitating, the tenant who had been hit by a teacup jumped out again. ¡°i don¡¯t need it anymore! i¡¯m not willing to stay here and suffer for this ten thousand yuan!¡±

    with that, he walked towards his room and prepared to pack his luggage and leave.

    everyone followed blindly. seeing that someone was taking the lead, the rest of the people made up their minds to leave. the ten thousand yuan would be wasted. although the housing prices in s city were very expensive, who said that they couldn¡¯t find the same leisure villa? why should they stay and be angry with this powerful landlord for a little money?

    in just over an hour, the twelve tenants in the villa had all left.

    when they were all gone, lao yao immediately revealed a smug smile. hehe, he had earned it again. this was equivalent to 15,000 yuan a month in rent. from the twelve tenants, he had earned more than 100,000 yuan this one time. at least for half a year, he would no longer have to worry about the maintenance of the villa.

    lao yao hummed a song that even he did not understand. he sauntered back to his room, put on his internet access helmet, and connected to the internet. after that, he left another advertisement for rent on a property website in s city.

    ¡°there¡¯s a seaside villa in the eastern suburbs of s city. it¡¯s fully renovated and has a beautiful environment. there are 12 existing rooms, each with its own bathroom and toilet. i¡¯m looking for 12 tenants. the tenants must have a good quality, and know how to take care of the environment and facilities. rent is negotiable. call xxx-xxxxx.¡±

    after putting up the rental information, lao yao took off his helmet, put on his clothes, and went downstairs to the kitchen to get busy.

    a moment later, lao yao walked out with a bowl of instant noodles. as he ate, he muttered to himself with tears streaming down his face, ¡°f*ck, when will the days of eating instant noodles end? should i find a landlady for this villa?¡±

    before he could finish his noodles, his phone suddenly rang. lao yao, who had been interrupted from eating, took out his phone and asked unhappily, ¡°hello, who is this?¡±

    in the video call, a beautiful girl seemed to be shocked by lao yao¡¯s tone. after being stunned for a while, she asked, ¡°hello, sir. may i ask if the rental of the villa was posted by you on xx website?¡±

    lao yao was amused. it hadn¡¯t been long since he put it up, but business had already come knocking on his door. moreover, it was such a beautiful woman. hence, he nodded and said, ¡°yes, i put up the rental information.¡±

    ¡°um, i want to ask, you said in the message that there are twelve rooms. how many are left?¡± the beautiful woman asked.

    ¡°none of them have been rented out!¡± lao yao pursed his lips and said, ¡°didn¡¯t you see that i just posted it?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s great!¡± the beauty immediately beamed with joy. ¡°there are exactly twelve of us here. if it¡¯s convenient for you, we want to come over and take a look at the house first. is that okay?¡±

    lao yao was stunned. ¡°twelve people?¡± alright, all of them are here¡­

    after the two of them finished discussing, lao yao put down the phone and rubbed his chin as he pondered, ¡°twelve people? damn it, could it be that half of them are men and half are women? could it be that my place is going to become a couple¡¯s hotel?¡±

    it was no wonder that lao yao had misunderstood. there were a few famous universities in s city. those university couples would often find a rented house to spend time with each other. if their families were slightly rich, it was reasonable for them to rent an elegant villa like lao yao¡¯s.

    thinking of this, lao yao suddenly stood up. ¡°no, if that¡¯s the case, i might break down first if i listen to their sounds all day long. i have to use the old method!¡±

    therefore, lao yao went upstairs and took out the contract that he had signed with the other tenants from his room. he chuckled sinisterly and said, ¡°i can kill fat sheep again!¡±

    however, an hour later, when lao yao received his future tenants at the entrance of the villa, he was completely dumbfounded.

    it was true that there were 12 people, but unlike what lao yao had imagined, these 12 people were not university couples.

    none of the 12 beauties were men!

    ¡°look, look! what a huge swimming pool!¡±

    ¡°the garden is so beautiful too! i¡¯ve never seen so many flowers before! ah! there¡¯s actually a fountain?¡±

    after the group of girls entered, their eyes immediately lit up as they began to evaluate the environment of the villa. it could be seen that they were very satisfied with lao yao¡¯s villa.

    after lao yao walked out and stood in front of them, the group of girls were not so impudent. among them, there was a petite girl who hid beside her companion and looked at lao yao in fear.

    to these charming girls, lao yao¡¯s figure was indeed a little too huge¡­

    among the group of girls, the beauty standing at the front was the one who had talked to lao yao. however, when she saw lao yao, she was obviously stunned. after all, only lao yao¡¯s face could be seen in the video, but his figure could not be seen.

    ¡°hello! are you the owner of this villa?¡± the beauty asked carefully.

 Chapter 2

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°yes!¡± lao yao nodded and said, ¡°are you hoping to rent the house?¡±

    ¡°yes, it¡¯s us!¡± the beauty finally smiled and extended her hand. ¡°hello, my name is yang yongle!¡±

    when lao yao reached out and held her hand, he could not help but shudder. the feeling that this soft little hand gave lao yao was really indescribable.

    ¡°hello, you can call me lao yao or lao yao, or you can call me whatever you want!¡± lao yao, who still remembered that wonderful touch in his mind, chuckled and said.

    ¡°alright then, um¡­ mr. lao yao!¡± yang yongle really couldn¡¯t tell the difference between lao yao and lao yao. she could only smile and say, ¡°can we take a look at the room first?¡±

    ¡°of course!¡± lao yao nodded. ¡°follow me.¡±

    the 12 girls followed behind lao yao and entered the villa. then, they began to look around the entire villa curiously, occasionally discussing something in a low voice.

    ¡°there are twelve rooms. although the layout is different, each room is spacious enough. since you¡¯re together, you can discuss the allocation of rooms. the living room and kitchen are shared. you can also use the private pool outside.¡±

    lao yao showed them around while introducing the rooms.

    ¡°mr. lao yao, what about the room upstairs?¡± yang yongle suddenly asked.

    ¡°oh, that¡¯s where i live!¡± lao yao replied.

    hearing this, yang yongle frowned. ¡°you mean, if we rent it, you¡¯ll live with us?¡±

    ¡°of course!¡± lao yao nodded. ¡°if i don¡¯t live here, where should i live?¡±

    ¡°if i may ask, are you single?¡± yang yongle continued to ask.

    ¡°that¡¯s right!¡± lao yao asked curiously, ¡°is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°well¡­¡± yang yongle hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°pardon me for being blunt, but we¡¯re a group of girls, and you¡¯re single. i¡¯m afraid this isn¡¯t good, right?¡±

    lao yao immediately understood what they were worried about. he sneered and said, ¡°what do you mean? could it be that you want to chase me, the landlord, out?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s not what i meant!¡± yang yongle shook her head and said, ¡°we¡¯re all girls, so we have to think more about it. please understand.¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t you guys have boyfriends?¡± lao yao asked curiously, ¡°can¡¯t you just ask your boyfriends to move in with you?¡±

    ¡°hehe, we are all single women!¡± yang yongle laughed.

    this made lao yao a little surprised. he originally thought that this was a group of university students who wanted to find a love hut or something. now that he looked at them, it seemed that this was not the case. this way, lao yao¡¯s original plan to kill fat sheep naturally failed.

    ¡°aren¡¯t you university students?¡± lao yao asked, ¡°can i ask about your profession?¡±

    ¡°we¡¯re all members of the same studio!¡± yang yongle replied with a smile, ¡°this time, we just want to find a quiet environment to do things.¡±

    ¡°studio? what kind of studio?¡± lao yao asked curiously.

    ¡°game studio!¡± yang yongle replied.

    ¡°game studio!? you guys!?¡± lao yao was surprised. this was the first time he had encountered a game studio formed by 12 beauties.

    ¡°that¡¯s indeed the case! is there a problem?¡± yang yongle¡¯s eyes revealed a trace of helplessness, as if she was already used to other people¡¯s surprise.

    ¡°it¡¯s nothing. that¡­ are you guys planning to rent the house?¡± seeing yang yongle¡¯s gaze, lao yao didn¡¯t know why, but he couldn¡¯t continue his surprise and asked a little embarrassedly.

    ¡°this¡­¡± yang yongle hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°can you allow us to discuss it first?¡±

    ¡°alright!¡± lao yao nodded and walked to the side to sit down. the 12 girls gathered together and started discussing.

    ¡°the environment is not bad and it¡¯s very quiet. if we live here, there won¡¯t be much to disturb us. we can work in peace.¡±

    ¡°but¡­ i keep feeling that the landlord seems to be very scary. he¡¯s also a single man. could it be¡­¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right. i keep thinking there¡¯s something lecherous in his eyes. what if he sneaks into our room when we¡¯re playing late at night?¡±

    although lao yao was sitting quite far away, he still heard some of the girls¡¯ whispers. he immediately burst into tears. ¡°damn it, i don¡¯t want to look like this either. i¡¯ve been single for 27 years and haven¡¯t found a landlady. do you think i want to?¡±

    it was unknown how the girls came to a consensus in the end. in the end, yang yongle walked over and asked old yao, ¡°mr. lao yao, we¡¯ve decided to rent it. i wonder how the rent is calculated?¡±

    lao yao, who was still a little upset about the girls¡¯ previous ¡°defamation¡±, threw out the contract and said, ¡°since you want to rent it, each person will pay 5,000 yuan a month. the tap water and circuits in each room are independent. the water meter and electric meter are smart charge cards. you can charge them yourselves. the pool outside is public, but the water fee for the pool is divided equally!¡±

    hearing the conditions, yang yongle was shocked. he looked at lao yao in disbelief and said, ¡°5,000 a month per person?! we have to even pay for our own electricity and water bills. mr. lao yao, isn¡¯t¡­ isn¡¯t this a little too high?¡±

    ¡°is it high?¡± lao yao said indifferently, ¡°i don¡¯t think so!¡±

    ¡°this¡­¡± yang yongle was speechless.

    when the women behind her saw lao yao¡¯s appearance, they immediately shouted angrily, ¡°why are you like this? so what if you have a house!¡±

    in the end, lao yao said, ¡°you can choose not to rent it!¡± and retorted, causing a group of girls to sulk at the side.

    ¡°um, mr. lao yao!¡± at this time, yang yongle spoke. she might have guessed why lao yao¡¯s temper was so explosive. ¡°they didn¡¯t mean to badmouth you earlier. don¡¯t be angry. let me tell you this. our studio has just been established not long ago. we are indeed a little tight on funds. can you reduce the rent?¡±

    without waiting for lao yao to answer, yang yongle sighed again and said, ¡°of course, if it really doesn¡¯t work, we can only find another place.¡±

    lao yao was stunned for a moment. he carefully sized up yang yongle and the girls behind her again. he could tell that although these girls were indeed beautiful, the clothes they were wearing were very simple. at least, as far as the eye could see, there were no luxurious brands. they should not be the daughters of rich people.

    seeing this, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but feel a little respectful. to be honest, although the girls in front of him couldn¡¯t be said to be beautiful, they were pure and simple. some big-name actors and celebrities might not even be as beautiful as them after removing their makeup. if they were willing, countless rich young masters and people would chase after them. to them, living a luxurious life was definitely easy.

    however, this group of girls would rather work in a gaming studio. one had to know that in the current gaming industry, although the work in a studio was profitable, it was definitely inhumane. not to mention women, even some men would complain bitterly.

    after thinking for a long time, lao yao finally nodded. ¡°alright, i¡¯m not an unreasonable person. i¡¯ll reduce a thousand yuan. the rent will be four thousand yuan¡­¡±

    since they were not fat sheep, there was no such thing as slaughtering them. it was not easy for a group of girls, so he should give in as much as he could.

    yang yongle smiled brightly. she knew that she hadn¡¯t misjudged him.

    ¡°mr. lao yao¡­¡± yang yongle was not in a hurry to agree to the new house price. instead, he said, ¡°i see that you¡¯re single, so the food isn¡¯t too good, right?¡±

    ¡°how did you know?¡± lao yao was stunned for a moment. then, he said in realization, ¡°you saw the instant noodles box in the kitchen¡­¡±

    yang yongle didn¡¯t deny it and said with a smile, ¡°mr. lao yao, how about this? didi from our studio is a very good cook. if you lower the rent a little, we¡¯ll agree for you to eat with us. what do you think?¡±

    when yang yongle said this, a girl with big eyes behind her gently took a step forward and looked at lao yao shyly. it seemed that she was the ¡°didi¡± that yang yongle mentioned.

    ¡°well¡­ alright!¡± lao yao saw the temperament of a good wife and mother from didi. he estimated that no matter how bad her culinary skills were, it was still better than eating instant noodles. he hesitated for a moment before agreeing. ¡°how about this? the rent is 3,500 yuan! i¡¯ll cut each of you another 500 yuan. i¡¯ll eat with you. also, i can¡¯t take care of the flowers and plants in the garden, so i usually spend money to hire someone to take care of them. since you¡¯ve mentioned it, why don¡¯t you help me take care of them when you¡¯re free! i¡¯ll fire the gardener in the future. this 6,000 yuan will be considered as the gardening fee.¡±

    ¡°wait! there¡¯s more!¡± at this moment, another girl stood behind yang yongle and said in a very chili-like manner, ¡°you¡¯re a man. if you peep at us girls swimming, wouldn¡¯t we be at a disadvantage? however, if your rent is lower, we can consider letting you swim with us!¡±

    ¡°yes, yes! hehe!¡±

    when the group of girls saw that lao yao was not as scary as they had imagined and was actually easy to talk to, they immediately let go. they surrounded lao yao and shook him cutely. ¡°mr. lao yao, just agree, okay¡­¡±

    lao yao couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. ¡°hey, hey, don¡¯t push your luck! it seems like i¡¯m the one who¡¯s at a disadvantage, right? there are twelve of you looking at me! i¡¯m being stared at by twelve pairs of eyes. don¡¯t make me not even dare to enter my own pool¡­¡±

    ¡°ah!?¡± the group of girls were dumbfounded. how could that be counted?

    ¡°alright, alright, it¡¯s settled then!¡± lao yao decided. ¡°i can¡¯t lower it anymore! if i lower it any further, i think i¡¯ll have to pay money every month.¡±

    lao yao had to pay the monthly property management fees. the pool had to be cleaned at least once a week. although the girls had to take care of the garden, the lawn couldn¡¯t be mowed without professional tools. this was another expense. in total, a lot had to be spent every month.

    yang yongle bit her lips and thought for a while. in the end, he nodded and agreed to such a price. of course, since lao yao was a single man, it was inevitable that there would be some inconveniences if he lived with a group of girls. therefore, yang yongle also made rules with lao yao, such as he couldn¡¯t break into girls¡¯ rooms at will¡­

 Chapter 3

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after the matter was settled, yang yongle and the girl named didi stayed behind to sign the contract with lao yao, while the other girls returned to their original residence to move their luggage.

    lao yao sighed in his heart. ¡°are girls nowadays so fierce in bargaining?¡± he placed the broken new contract in front of yang yongle and asked them to sign it.

    after leaving her elegant handwriting on the contract, yang yongle extended his hand to lao yao and said, ¡°alright, mr. landlord. i hope we can get along well from now on.¡±

    lao yao shook her soft little hand with a bitter expression and said, ¡°you guys are happy, but i¡¯m worried. the monthly maintenance fee of this villa is not a small expense.¡±

    facing this group of self-reliant girls, lao yao¡¯s heart softened for a moment and he rented out the room at a low price. although he was also worried about the maintenance fee, he actually did not have any regrets in his heart. towards this group of girls who could make him admire them, lao yao felt that he was quite great to be able to help them a little.

    ¡°mr. landlord, forgive me for being curious, but i want to ask, did you buy this house?¡± yang yongle asked curiously. ¡°a villa like this costs at least 30 million yuan in s city. i wonder what profession you¡¯re in?¡±

    ¡°hehe, you might not believe it, but i¡¯m currently an unemployed vagrant!¡± lao yao sat on the chair in a slightly lonely manner. he lit a cigarette, and his eyes were lost.

    ¡°this villa is actually not mine¡­ it belongs to my comrades¡­¡± lao yao muttered to himself. ¡°he only handed this house to me for safekeeping¡­¡±

    ¡°what about this comrade of yours? i didn¡¯t expect you to be a soldier. no wonder you¡¯re so burly¡­¡± didi asked softly with a red face.

    ¡°him? hehe, he¡­ is already dead! he died on the battlefield¡­¡± lao yao laughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°as for soldiers¡­ we¡­ are not considered soldiers. if you want to calculate, we can only be considered mercenaries¡­¡±

    yang yongle and didi looked at each other. no matter how stupid they were, they knew the difference between a soldier and a mercenary. it was just that they didn¡¯t expect to see a legendary figure here.

    such a life of fire and blood was unimaginable in a metropolis in a peaceful era¡­

    shaking his head, as if trying to shake off the memories in his mind, lao yao revealed a smile and said, ¡°don¡¯t worry about the property rights of this house. my comrade has already transferred this house to me as an inheritance. i¡¯m definitely qualified to be your landlord.¡±

    ¡°hehe, that¡¯s not what we meant.¡± yang yongle smiled and said, ¡°i¡¯ve never doubted this. from the beginning, i could tell from your eyes that you didn¡¯t lie to us. you¡¯re a good person.¡±

    ¡°haha, a good person?¡± lao yao laughed and said, ¡°no wonder. i¡¯ve been single for 27 years, but i haven¡¯t been able to find a landlady. so it¡¯s because of this good person card!¡±

    ¡°that¡­ that¡¯s not what i meant¡­¡± yang yongle blushed and hurriedly explained.

    ¡°alright, alright. you can stay here in peace!¡± lao yao smiled brightly and said, ¡°it¡¯s not easy for you girls. i can¡¯t go against my conscience and do things. if there¡¯s anything i can help you with, just look for me.¡±

    ¡°then¡­ the maintenance cost of the villa¡­¡± yang yongle hesitated and didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°don¡¯t worry. you don¡¯t have to worry about this. i¡¯ll think of a way.¡± lao yao waved his hand indifferently.

    seeing that lao yao was about to turn around and leave, yang yongle suddenly blushed and shouted, ¡°um¡­ mr. landlord, why don¡¯t you join our studio and play games together to earn money!¡±

    ¡°huh?¡± lao yao turned around in confusion. ¡°what did you say?¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s like this!¡± yang yongle bit his lips and pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°you also know that our studio has just been established not long ago. moreover, we¡¯re all girls, so we¡¯re naturally at a disadvantage in some aspects. if you can join us and earn money, won¡¯t you be able to make up for your reduced rent?¡±

    ¡°haha, is that really the case?¡± lao yao laughed and narrowed his eyes at yang yongle. ¡°it¡¯s a studio full of girls. i¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be that easy to do things, right?¡±

    yang yongle¡¯s face darkened a little when lao yao hit the nail on the head. however, she still nodded bravely at lao yao.

    in fact, when they first mentioned their profession, lao yao could already tell that the helplessness in yang yongle¡¯s eyes at that time was not fake. the helplessness in life could still be reflected very well in the game world. every game had a similar situation. with the appearance of the guilds, individual players were being suppressed step by step. in other words, without the strength of a group, it was simply impossible to survive in the game. a studio formed by purely female players like yang yongle had so few people. moreover, looking at their gentle personalities, in many pk games, one could imagine their disadvantage. it was definitely extremely difficult to develop in the game.

    without development, where would they get the funds for the various expenses they needed?

    the helplessness was reflected in these bits and pieces.

    thinking of this, lao yao shook his head and said, ¡°forgive me for being blunt. although i haven¡¯t played any games, i know that your numbers are too small. you don¡¯t have much of a competitive advantage. even if you add me, it won¡¯t change anything.¡±

    ¡°no! it¡¯s different!¡± yang yongle suddenly retorted, ¡°it¡¯s different this time!¡±

    ¡°oh? what do you mean?¡± lao yao looked at yang yongle in confusion.

    ¡°it¡¯s different this time!¡± yang yongle¡¯s eyes revealed an unprecedented fanaticism. ¡°you¡¯ve heard of galaxy international, right?!¡±

    ¡°i¡¯ve heard of it!¡± lao yao nodded and said, ¡°isn¡¯t it the company that released the news last year that they developed the most powerful smart chip in the world?¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s them!¡± yang yongle nodded and said, ¡°originally, the entire world thought that they would use this smart chip on the new generation of computers, but not long ago, there was news that they had built a powerful server with this smart chip and used it as a platform to create a large-scale game. i heard that they joined forces with the world government to take this opportunity to relieve population pressure. now that they have been allowed to build internet access in all countries in the world, it won¡¯t be long before this game will be open to the world. our goal is to obtain a place in this game!¡±

    ¡°relieving the population pressure? that¡¯s a lot of money!¡± lao yao nodded. he also knew that although earth had already ushered in the space age, due to the limitation of technology, it was still unable to go too far away. moreover, it was easier said than done to find a planet suitable for human habitation around the solar system. even if one modified a planet, one would not be able to see results without dozens or hundreds of years of effort. as the medical level gradually grew, the natural mortality rate of humans decreased year by year. the resulting population growth was inevitable. with more people, the pressure on employment would increase, and the social problems that followed would become complicated. it was enough to give every country a headache. no wonder the proposal of galaxy international was supported by the world government.

    yang yongle continued, ¡°this game will be connected to the server in virtual reality. it will no longer be like the 3d imaging and keyboard control in the past. our personal abilities will be displayed to the greatest extent. i think that our studio will definitely be able to develop better under such a model that subverts traditional games.¡±

    ¡°you haven¡¯t even seen the game yet. are you really so sure?¡± lao yao smiled bitterly. this was the first time he had seen such a persistent girl.

    ¡°how would we know if we don¡¯t try?¡± yang yongle asked. ¡°we sisters have always liked games and that¡¯s why we gathered together. we want to realize our dreams through our own efforts. how is that wrong? even if we prove ourselves wrong in the end, the process of proving is still worth remembering, right?¡±

    ¡°dreams?¡± when lao yao heard this word, his mind immediately flew away. after a long time, he came back to his senses. looking at yang yongle and didi¡¯s expectant eyes, he smiled helplessly and asked, ¡°alright, i want to ask, what¡¯s the name of this game?¡±

    yang yongle¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°you agree?!¡±

    it was no wonder that she was so excited. after knowing that lao yao was actually a retired mercenary, yang yongle had been calculating. if the game was really as advertised, a person like lao yao would definitely have a huge advantage in the game. at least in the early stages, when everyone¡¯s equipment could not keep up, a person¡¯s physical fitness could determine many things.

    ¡°yes! i agree!¡± lao yao smiled and said, ¡°in any case, someone like me doesn¡¯t have a diploma or anything. even if i look for a job, i¡¯m afraid i won¡¯t be able to find anything good. why don¡¯t i try it with you guys when i¡¯m free? if i can really earn money, everyone will feel less pressured.¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s great!¡± yang yongle immediately clapped his hands happily with didi.

    at this moment, perhaps they did not know what kind of person they had pulled in for their studio¡­

 Chapter 4

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after a period of noisy and busy work, the twelve girls from silver maple leaf studio finally became the official tenants of lao yao and settled down in the villa.

    after everyone settled down, yang yongle immediately held a meeting in the living room. during the meeting, she revealed the news of lao yao joining the studio to the girls.

    ¡°ah! what!? he wants to join our studio!? how can that do!?¡±

    as expected by lao yao, the first person to raise objections in the meeting was the hot chili beauty.

    actually, lao yao was already prepared for this. as the boss of the studio, yang yongle¡¯s consideration was naturally for the development of the studio. it was normal for her to invite lao yao to join, but it was normal for other members of the studio, especially when all of them were female, to have xenophobia.

    especially when the new member was a burly man like lao yao¡­

    ¡°ning jing! don¡¯t be in a hurry to object. let me finish, okay?¡± yang yongle suppressed the chattering crowd and explained to them the purpose of her decision.

    little chili pepper actually had the name ¡°ning jing1¡±. this really made lao yao sigh at the wonders of the creator. he subconsciously stared at ning jing a few more times, but in return, ning jing glared at him fiercely.

    lao yao couldn¡¯t help but laugh. he said, ¡°um¡­ can everyone listen to me for a moment?¡±

    seeing that everyone was looking at him, lao yao continued, ¡°i know that everyone might have some opinions about me. how about this? when i enter the game, i won¡¯t put up the prefix of the studio.¡±

    lao yao had also come to this conclusion after some consideration. if he were to hang the prefix of the studio, others would immediately understand what was going on. at that time, what would it be like for a man to mix in with a group of women? even lao yao would feel embarrassed.

    this could be considered as lao yao¡¯s male chauvinism¡­

    yang yongle seemed to have seen through lao yao¡¯s thoughts. although he was in a difficult position, he still agreed in the end. the other girls also seemed to be able to accept lao yao¡¯s suggestion. after chatting for a while, they also agreed.

    after all, he was their landlord. they had to give him some face. as long as lao yao wasn¡¯t obviously a member of the silver maple leaf workshop on the surface, it was fine. they just had to understand what was going on internally.

    in this way, lao yao¡¯s face as a man was preserved, and the girls¡¯ ¡°honor¡± was also preserved. everyone was happy.

    the next step was to make preparations.

    the game developed by galaxy international was called ¡°era of the gods¡±. it was considered a fantasy game. however, the official platform revealed very little information. a group of girls from the studio were trying their best to gather information on the internet.

    lao yao was no exception. he rarely played games, especially online games. therefore, other than looking at the information revealed by the officials, he had to understand some general knowledge about online games.

    in another week, the game would begin its open beta. although this method showed galaxy international¡¯s confidence in this game, at the same time, there was not much time left for lao yao and the others.

    just as lao yao was looking for the information he wanted on the internet with the helmet-like network access device, the helmet sent a message. someone was knocking on the door.

    lao yao got up and opened the door. it was actually didi standing outside.

    of course, the name didi was just what her good sisters called her. the relationship between lao yao and her had not reached that level of intimacy. he still had to call her by her full name.

    ¡°meng di, what¡¯s the matter?¡± lao yao asked.

    meng di blushed and said nervously, ¡°mr¡­ mr. landlord, i¡¯m here to inform you that¡­ we can eat now!¡±

    lao yao slapped his forehead. he had almost forgotten that he had already started eating with the girls. just now, when he was a little hungry, he subconsciously wanted to make instant noodles.

    lao yao¡¯s face was covered in tears. ¡°finally, someone can cook for me!¡±

    in his excitement, lao yao grabbed meng di¡¯s small hand and shook it back and forth. ¡°good comrade! thank you, thank you! i¡¯ll come down now!¡±

    lao yao¡¯s sudden action made meng di¡¯s face turn even redder. she quickly retracted her hand and ran downstairs without saying a word.

    lao yao hummed a song as he put on his slippers. it was obvious that he was very happy to be able to eat a hot meal that was not instant noodles.

    how could he not be happy? it was not that lao yao did not want to find a nanny to help him cook, but the problem was that when the nanny saw lao yao¡¯s appearance, they were so frightened that they immediately resigned and left. they did not even want to stay for a quarter of an hour, afraid that lao yao would do something illegal to them. it was the same before and after. finally, lao yao cried and ended his idea of finding a nanny¡­

    when he went downstairs to the living room, the table was already filled with dishes. the dishes of 13 people filled the entire table, but the fragrance filled the living room. it made lao yao sniff continuously. he was so excited!

    ¡°hmph!¡± ning jing saw lao yao¡¯s appearance and couldn¡¯t help but snort proudly. ¡°now you¡¯ve learned something new!¡±

    lao yao nodded repeatedly. he pointed at a dish on the table and said something that almost made all the girls fall. ¡°i have, i have! oh my god! is this the legendary red braised meat?!¡±

    these words made the girls laugh incessantly. at the same time, they also saw the sorrow of a man who didn¡¯t know how to cook¡­

    after the meal, the girls spent their time watching lao yao eat. with lao yao, who was like a hungry ghost, they didn¡¯t eat much and were only surprised.

    in the end, when lao yao patted his bulging stomach and kept flattering meng di, causing meng di¡¯s face to turn red, the girls finally couldn¡¯t help but laugh¡­

    yang yongle also had the same smile on her face. she got up and returned to her own room. when she came out again, she had a box in her hand and handed it to lao yao.

    ¡°what is this?¡± lao yao took it and asked curiously.

    ¡°this is a special access helmet for the era of the gods,¡± yang yongle explained. ¡°our studio prepared it for you.¡±

    ¡°ah, how can i accept that? you¡¯ve spent a lot of money!¡± lao yao said humbly as he opened the box, causing ning jing to roll her eyes at him.

    this was a rather strange helmet. the upper half of the helmet was similar to the ordinary access helmet used by lao yao, but there was a long ¡°tail¡± at the back of the helmet.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡± lao yao didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°the helmets used for the game are naturally different.¡± yang yongle explained, ¡°this tail is actually a neural connection system. when the time comes, it has to be stuck to the spine.¡±

    as everyone knew, most of the human body¡¯s activities were controlled by the brain, but a small portion was controlled by the spinal cord nerves. the game¡¯s special helmet could intercept a person¡¯s brain waves and nerve pulses. after being recognized by the system, it could transform into various actions of the game character to achieve the goal of free control in virtual reality.

    however, there was a time limit to intercepting brain waves and nerve pulses like this. in theory, he had to take off his helmet in at most twelve hours. otherwise, it would be harmful to his health if his body did not receive any signs of activity for a long time.

    lao yao was very clear about this kind of information. now that the brainwave network access technology was mature, this was considered common knowledge.

    seeing lao yao nod to show that he understood, yang yongle continued, ¡°do you still remember what i told you back then? this game is different from previous games. the embodiment of one¡¯s ability is the most important thing in the game.¡±

    ¡°well, you did say that,¡± lao yao said. ¡°did you learn anything?¡±

    yang yongle smiled and said, ¡°yes, the game will officially open in a week, but you can create a character two hours in advance. it¡¯s said that when you create it, there will be a series of tests in the game to determine the character¡¯s initial attributes. at that time, you have to grasp the opportunity.¡±

    ¡°oh, i understand!¡± lao yao expressed that he understood.

    ¡°by the way, have you thought about what role you want to play?¡± yang yongle asked curiously, ¡°we already have our own plans. we¡¯re only missing you now.¡±

    ¡°i don¡¯t really understand either. i¡¯ll take a look in the game when the time comes!¡± lao yao scratched his short hair and said embarrassedly, ¡°to be honest, i¡¯ve really never played any online games. i don¡¯t know much about the classes in the game.¡±

    ¡°have you never played any games before?¡± yang yongle asked in amusement.

    ¡°if you want to talk about games, i¡¯ve actually played some¡­¡± lao yao continued to scratch his head. ¡°i wonder if plants vs zombies 16th generation counts?¡±

    yang yongle: ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 5

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    in the following week, with galaxy international¡¯s overwhelming advertising, the era of the gods finally opened.

    the game was officially launched at twelve o¡¯clock, but at ten o¡¯clock, players could start creating game characters. after lao yao and the girls from silver maple leaf studio had breakfast in advance, they used their helmets to connect to the internet.

    due to the fact that the western-style fantasy online game was the most popular theme in the history of the game for more than a hundred years, the game had reached a perfect level in terms of race, skills, background, and class balance. moreover, it was gradually accepted by the entire world. therefore, this time, the online game developed by galaxy international also chose this western-style theme.

    ¡°when the creation god went into hibernation, the gods he created took over the authority of management. they herded countless living beings on the dawn continent and chose their beloved races to bestow them with strength and protection in exchange for people¡¯s faith¡­ and you, newborn warrior, choose the god you believe in, choose your race, and fight freely on this land!¡±

    accompanied by a deep narration and a magnificent cg opening, lao yao realized that the environment in front of him had suddenly changed. he had arrived in front of a building that looked like a temple.

    a fairy with transparent wings flew over from afar and landed in front of lao yao. she introduced herself, ¡°honorable player, i¡¯m your guide. may i ask if you want to create a character now?¡±

    lao yao nodded. ¡°yes.¡±

    ¡°alright!¡± the fairy nodded. ¡°next, we¡¯ll enter the test segment to determine the character attributes of your character. do you want to start now?¡±

    ¡°alright!¡± lao yao continued to nod. to be honest, back then, he only knew that there was such a setting. however, no one had disclosed the specific test process. therefore, lao yao was a little curious now.

    ¡°the first step is a power test!¡± the fairy waved her hand, and a pair of dumbbells appeared in front of lao yao. he was speechless.

    ¡°you mean, you want me to use this pair of dumbbells for testing?¡± lao yao asked gloomily. in such a magical environment, such modern equipment had suddenly appeared. how could lao yao not be depressed?

    ¡°the equipment is just a formality!¡± the fairy explained expressionlessly. ¡°this is a pressure simulation test system. it stimulates muscle tissue through brain waves and electric signals to determine the upper limit of your strength.¡±

    perhaps they had already expected players to have such doubts. galaxy international¡¯s developers naturally had to give corresponding explanations in the design of the game program.

    lao yao shrugged and had no choice but to do as he was told. in any case, there was no way to create a character without going through this step.

    waving the dumbbells, lao yao realized that the weight he felt was actually slowly increasing. although lao yao was not a super muscular man, it was not a problem for him to lift 170 to 180 catties with one hand. unexpectedly, the weight of the dumbbells became heavier and heavier, making lao yao feel a little strained.

    ¡°one-handed strength of 110 kilograms. evaluation result, excellent!¡± the little fairy gave lao yao¡¯s evaluation value. ¡°strength attribute: maximum value 20!¡±

    ¡°eh? it¡¯s actually the maximum value?¡± lao yao was a little surprised. although he felt that his strength was not bad, he also knew that in terms of strength, there were many people who were stronger than him. naturally, he was a little surprised to obtain such a result.

    ¡°i want to ask, what will happen if the attributes are too low?¡± lao yao asked, ¡°for example, if the strength attributes of those who want to play the warrior are not high, what will happen?¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t worry!¡± the guide fairy replied. ¡°testing attributes only allows the player to have a reference when choosing a class. after making your class choice, the character¡¯s attributes will be adjusted.¡±

    ¡°oh, i see.¡± lao yao nodded. ¡°then let¡¯s continue. this test is quite interesting.¡±

    ¡°the test is divided into three parts. next is the agility test!¡± the fairy waved her hand, and the pair of dumbbells disappeared. the surroundings changed into a dense forest.

    ¡°dodge the tree stump traps!¡± the fairy introduced. ¡°in the forest, there will be tree stumps attacking you at any time. what you have to do is to dodge as many as you can. the longer you last, the higher your agility rating will be!¡±

    ¡°ha!¡± when lao yao heard this test, although he smiled, his expression became a little cold. this was not the first time he had encountered such a test.

    when he first became a mercenary, lao yao had stayed in the siberian training camp for a period of time. there was such a thing in the inhuman training. the difference was that the training at that time was absolutely bloody. if one could not dodge the huge tree stumps that were flying over with a rope in time, they would either break their bones, vomit blood, or die from injuries. lao yao had seen it more than once. some people died from being hit in the head by the tree stump because they could not dodge it in time¡­

    ¡°damn it, which programmer designed this?¡± lao yao¡¯s face was terrifyingly gloomy.

    however, he did not have a choice. after the fairy started, the tree stump was already flying towards him.

    due to the terrifying memories, lao yao subconsciously forgot that this was a game. he was unprecedentedly focused and tried his best to dodge those tree stumps.

    in fact, he did not know that if it was really as he had imagined, and the impact would cause immense pain, galaxy international would probably be scolded by the players all over the world before going bankrupt. in the program, not only would the speed of the tree stumps be slowed down, but once a tree stump came into contact with the human body, the entire test would immediately stop. the players would not feel any pain. after all, this was only a game, not the real siberian training camp¡­

    lao yao, who did not understand all of this, used all his strength. back when he was a mercenary, he was already a scout. his agility was naturally most important. with his full strength, these tree stumps could not touch a single strand of his hair.

    after the entire test stopped, the little fairy flew to the panting lao yao¡¯s side. her voice was also filled with surprise. ¡°persistence: 15 minutes! completely passed the test. agility evaluation: perfect! agility attribute bonus: 30!¡±

    he actually obtained 10 additional agility attribute points!?

    lao yao was a little surprised. however, due to some bad memories, he did not express any opinions. instead, he said, ¡°let¡¯s continue with the next test.¡±

    the fairy nodded. ¡°next is the intelligence test!¡± with a wave of her hand, the forest disappeared. in its place were various kinds of chessboards floating in the air.

    ¡°please choose a chess game!¡±

    for some reason, lao yao suddenly lost his initial interest in the test. he directly asked the little fairy, ¡°which is the easiest?¡±

    ¡°i recommend gomoku!¡± the fairy said. ¡°the rules are the simplest!¡±

    lao yao¡¯s question was questionable to begin with. there was no simple explanation for a game that could be passed down. even the simplest thing could be complicated in the eyes of experts. with lao yao¡¯s question, the little demon¡¯s program also gave the search results for the keyword ¡°simple.¡±

    as soon as the gomoku board appeared in front of lao yao, lao yao immediately said, ¡°i admit defeat!¡±

    he did not want to continue this inexplicable test¡­

    ¡°admit defeat. are you sure?¡± little fairy asked.

    ¡°i¡¯m sure!¡± lao yao nodded.

    ¡°test project: master-level gomoku, duration: 0 rounds!¡± the little sprite gave an evaluation. ¡°intelligence rating: smart! obtained intelligence attribute: maximum 20!¡±

    at this moment, lao yao was finally stunned. ¡°how can i still get such an evaluation when i¡¯ve already given up!¡±

    the fairy didn¡¯t give an explanation for this. instead, the screen jumped to the choice of class and race.

    what lao yao didn¡¯t know was that in the settings of the program, the level of the computer for the test was at the master level. it could be said that if one wasn¡¯t a professional player, it would be very difficult to beat the computer, let alone ordinary players. the difference was that if one played seriously with the computer, the evaluation would be calculated based on how many moves one had with the computer.

    the intelligence test was naturally about whether you were smart or not. you clearly knew that you could not win, but you still foolishly played the game. was such a person considered smart? therefore, this test had a back door for the programmers. as long as a player wisely gave up, they could obtain such a full attribute evaluation.

    it was not impossible to exchange a few moves with the computer, but the attribute points obtained in the end would fluctuate between 10 to 19. it was impossible to obtain a full value.

    of course, there was another situation where one¡¯s chess skills were heaven-defying. if one killed a computer opponent and utterly defeated it, one would receive an additional bonus in intelligence points. however, such situations were definitely extremely rare.

    this situation was later confirmed on the official forums, causing many players to curse. fortunately, the attribute of intelligence was not very important to players who were not mages. as for players who chose the mage class, due to the modification of their class attributes, the difference was not too big. therefore, after the players cursed, they passed.

    lao yao, who had no idea about this, could only wear a constipated expression and start choosing his class and race¡­

 Chapter 6

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°character attribute test completed. strength 20, agility 30, intelligence 20. recommended classes: hunter, assassin! recommended races: elves, dark elves, humans, demons, vampires, shadow race!¡±

    after the fairy finished speaking, a group of characters appeared in front of lao yao. they were all based on lao yao¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°are there only these classes and races to choose from?¡± lao yao asked.

    ¡°no, this is just a recommendation. given that your agility rating is perfect, you can also choose the warrior and mage class, as well as other races. do you want to choose another class?¡±

    ¡°no need, i¡¯ll choose the agility class! i want to choose the assassin class!¡± lao yao shook his head. the appearance of an assassin holding a pair of daggers in front of him made lao yao feel a sense of familiarity, just like when he held the canine tooth in his hand¡­

    as lao yao chose a class, the hunter-like character with a bow and arrow among these character models disappeared, leaving only the assassin-like character.

    ¡°let me introduce the talents of the various races to you!¡± the fairy casually pointed, and the human figure stepped forward and waved the dagger in his hand.

    ¡°humans are gifted with learning abilities. the proficiency of various skills has an additional 5%!¡±

    seeing that lao yao did not say anything, the little demon continued to introduce.

    ¡°elf race, agility has an additional bonus, talent is affinity, pet recruitment success rate increased by 5%.¡±

    lao yao rubbed his chin and thought about it. the elves were probably more suitable for hunters, right? hence, he did not say anything and waited for the introduction of the other races.

    ¡°dark elves have additional agility bonuses. their talent is night, and their combat strength in the dark environment will not decrease.¡±

    this was a little interesting. it was said that in the era of the gods, there was a difference between day and night. during the day, their combat power was normal, but at night, not only would their attack power decrease, but their defense would also decrease. if they chose the dark elves, it would be very advantageous to fight in the night.

    ¡°demons have an additional strength bonus. their talent is weakening. all negative skills¡¯ effects are increased by 5%.¡±

    this demon race should be a race that corresponded to the god race, right? if the talent of the demon race was weakening, then the god race should increase the blessing effect.

    ¡°vampires. agility has an additional bonus. talent is lifesteal. when he attacks normally, 1% of the damage will be converted to your own health.¡±

    amongst these races, other than the dark elves and vampires, the races weren¡¯t good choices for the assassin profession. however, whether it was the dark elves with dark skin and eyes like cataracts, or the pale-skinned vampire gigolo with fangs exposed, lao yao didn¡¯t really like them. therefore, he planned to take a look at the shadow race at the end. after all, this shadow race character model was comparatively more to his liking! this fellow¡¯s chauvinism was acting up again¡­

    however, the following introduction of the shadow race surprised lao yao.

    ¡°shadow race, privileged bonus race. those with perfect agility evaluation can choose it. agility has an additional bonus. talent ability: shadow, stealth skill permanently +1. talent skill: shadow follower. when you enter the target¡¯s shadow, you can follow it. duration: 30 seconds. you can¡¯t be seen through by any skills!¡±

    was there any other choice!?

    after reading the introduction of the shadow race, lao yao almost instantly decided that his race would be the shadow race!

    although the shadow race didn¡¯t have any powerful damage output compared to the dark elves who didn¡¯t lose their combat power at night and the vampires who had the vampire¡¯s blood-sucking talent, after lao yao¡¯s recent study of online games, he understood very well that most assassins had extremely high instant damage output, but their ability to continue fighting was extremely low. once they couldn¡¯t kill their opponents during the attack time, they could only wait for death.

    however, the shadow race¡¯s innate skill could very well avoid this situation. if he realized that he couldn¡¯t win and hid in their opponent¡¯s shadow, no one would be able to do anything to him.

    no wonder it was called a privileged race. such a talent was definitely a very impressive talent¡­

    ¡°are you sure you want to create a shadow assassin?¡± the fairy asked lao yao. after lao yao nodded, all the other character models disappeared, leaving only the shadow race models.

    lao yao carefully sized up the character model that was created with his appearance. he knew that after entering the game, he would show it to others in this appearance.

    the shadow race model in front of him looked no different from a human. the only difference was that his eyes were pitch-black, as if they could not reflect light, giving off a strange feeling.

    however, lao yao was very satisfied with this. apart from his eyes, at least this character model was not much different from lao yao himself.

    ¡°please name your character!¡± the fairy said.

    ¡°lao yao!¡± lao yao didn¡¯t even think about it and directly gave out his name. since he didn¡¯t need to use the name of the studio, he could name it according to lao yao¡¯s preferences.

    ¡°do you need to make adjustments to your character¡¯s appearance?¡± little fairy asked.

    ¡°no, there¡¯s no need. it¡¯s fine like this!¡± lao yao replied with a smile.

    ¡°alright, the character creation is complete. respected player, please wait for the server to open before entering the game!¡± after saying this, the fairy directly cut off lao yao¡¯s internet connection and kicked him out.

    ¡°damn you! just a moment ago, you were still calling me a respected player. now, you¡¯re kicking me out. is this how you respect players?¡±

    lao yao cursed and took off his helmet. he sat up in bed, put on his slippers, and walked out of his room.

    in the living room below, the girls from silver maple leaf studio had already gathered around the table and were chattering about the scene when they created their characters.

    seeing that lao yao had only come out at this time, yang yongle invited him to sit down before asking curiously, ¡°why did it take so long? we created a character in less than half an hour, but you actually used an entire hour?! don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been playing chess with the computer?!¡±

    ¡°really? i didn¡¯t even notice the time! it¡¯s actually been so long!¡± lao yao scratched his head. ¡°as for playing chess, i didn¡¯t play at all!¡±

    during the test, he basically had no concept of time.

    ¡°hey hey, weird uncle! tell me about your class and character attributes!¡± ning jing, the little chili, came up to him.

    lao yao was speechless. ¡°what do you mean by weird uncle?! i¡¯m only 27! if you say that again, i¡¯ll get angry!¡±

    ¡°if you don¡¯t want to tell me, then don¡¯t!¡± ning jing pursed her lips and asked, ¡°tell me your race, class, and character attributes!¡±

    ¡°eh? why are you so concerned?¡± lao yao asked curiously, ¡°what do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°hmph!¡± ning jing puffed out her chest proudly and said to yang yongle, ¡°big sister, you tell him!¡±

    before lao yao could recover from ning jing¡¯s trembling bosoms, yang yongle covered his mouth and laughed. ¡°ning jing¡¯s strength attribute was maxed out during the attribute test and she chose the warrior class. look, she was showing off to us just now! she asked you to tell us your attributes just to show off to you!¡±

    ¡°you!? full strength!?¡± lao yao was shocked, as if he had seen the most unimaginable thing in the world¡­

    ¡°hey! what¡¯s that look in your eyes!?¡± ning jing couldn¡¯t help but fly into a rage when she saw lao yao¡¯s expression. ¡°i¡¯m telling you, i¡¯m a level 6 karate practitioner. what¡¯s so strange about getting full strength!? i¡¯m warning you, if you dare to peep in the future, i¡¯ll teach you a lesson!¡±

    after saying that, she even waved her fist at lao yao in a show of force.

    ¡°jingjing, don¡¯t be like this¡­¡± meng di blushed and tugged at the corner of her shirt.

    ¡°let go, didi! how can i not warn him?¡± ning jing refused to give up.

    lao yao placed his hands behind his head and said gloomily, ¡°don¡¯t worry! i want to play a game with you, right? we¡¯re all in the game. are you afraid that i¡¯ll run away?¡±

    ning jing was stunned for a moment. she tilted her head and thought for a moment. then, she suddenly slapped her palm and said, ¡°that¡¯s right. why didn¡¯t i think of that? as long as i see you in the game, i¡¯m not afraid that you¡¯ll run into our room while we¡¯re playing!¡±

    lao yao¡¯s face darkened. wasn¡¯t this woman too crazy?

    yang yongle and the girls burst out laughing when they saw ning jing do that. then, she whispered to lao yao, ¡°don¡¯t mind her. she¡¯s just like this. she treats everyone like this.¡±

    lao yao waved his hand to show that he didn¡¯t mind. he asked, ¡°what professions did you choose?¡±

    ¡°i chose mage. as for the other sisters, apart from ning jing who chose warrior, three chose priest, three hunters, three mages, and one chose assassin. what about you? what¡¯s your class?¡±

    ¡°me? i also chose assassin!¡± lao yao replied. he began to search for the girl who might be an assassin among the girls. finally, his gaze locked on the face of a girl with a calm expression.

    ¡°your guess is really accurate. that¡¯s wang ke. she chose the assassin profession,¡± yang yongle said in a low voice.

    seeing lao yao look over, wang ke also looked at him. his expression was still very calm as he nodded at him.

    ¡°hehe, interesting girl¡­¡± lao yao smiled and didn¡¯t say anything else.

    seeing that it was almost midnight, the girls joked for a while before getting up and returning to their rooms, preparing to start the game.

    ¡°my name is maple leaf lele in the game. add me as a friend in the game!¡± after saying this, yang yongle got up and returned to his room.

    ¡°lele? i remember!¡± lao yao stretched and prepared to enter the game¡­

 Chapter 7

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    as soon as he entered the game, lao yao felt a chill run down his spine. he lowered his head and realized that he was only wearing a pair of underpants.

    lao yao was fine, but he heard the desperate cries of countless men around him. ¡°heavens, why is the difference in treatment so big?! do you want me to live?!¡±

    at a glance, the male characters were all wearing underpants. when the female characters entered the game, they were wearing a set of white clothes that covered their bodies tightly.

    originally, seeing that they were only wearing a pair of underpants and dreaming that the female characters would also dress up like them, the lewd men who were waiting to feast their eyes were finally disappointed¡­

    lao yao shook his head in amusement and ignored them. he opened his backpack according to the novice¡¯s help and took out the novice weapon given by the system, a pair of old daggers.

    the so-called novice village was like an independent dungeon. players around the world were divided according to their territories and then randomly distributed to the same novice village dungeons one after another, so that there weren¡¯t too many people and they couldn¡¯t level up.

    lao yao checked. after adding yang yongle as a friend, he sent her an email asking about the location of the newbie village she was in.

    soon, yang yongle replied. the novice village she was in was numbered 005718. according to the results of her inquiries, lao yao was basically alone in his novice village and could not meet up with the other girls.

    ¡°you can level up by yourself first. when you reach level 15, we¡¯ll meet in the main city.¡± yang yongle said.

    fine, i¡¯ll be alone again! lao yao shrugged.

    at this moment, the first batch of people who came online could not wait to run outside the novice village and start killing monsters. white lights continued to appear in the novice village, indicating that newbies were still entering.

    although the novice village was not too crowded after the distribution, there were probably more than a thousand people. this could be said to be the first time lao yao had seen so many people in a long time.

    according to the online game guides on the internet, lao yao first ran around the novice village to familiarize himself with the location of the npcs in the novice village. after accepting a few missions to kill monsters, he walked out of the novice village and prepared to kill monsters to level up.

    the lowest-level monsters outside the novice village were the wild dogs. however, at this moment, the originally small place was already filled with players who came to kill monsters and level up. although they were still unfamiliar with the new operating method of virtual reality, basically every monster that respawned would be surrounded and beaten to death by a group of players. therefore, for the time being, he could not see how the new operating system would affect players.

    although he was already mentally prepared for the number of people, he was still shocked by the dense crowd. he had never been used to moving in numbers.

    frowning, lao yao opened his character stats.

    character: lao yao

    level: 1

    race: shadow race

    profession: assassin

    strength: 20

    agility: 30

    intelligence: 20

    damage: 16~32 (equipment: old dagger. adds 1~2 attack)

    physical defense: 3

    magic defense: 2

    attack power: 1.2

    critical strike rate: 5%

    critical strike damage: 200%

    lao yao silently calculated in his heart. it seemed that the attack damage of the assassin class was related to agility. he had 30 points of agility, so the upper limit of his attack was 30. the lower limit should be divided by 2, which was 15. coupled with the attack power of the novice daggers, it was exactly 16 to 32.

    physical defense and magic defense seemed to be divided by 10 based on agility and intelligence respectively. however, this was not certain. he had to verify it.

    he could understand the critical strike rate and critical strike damage, but the attack power made lao yao scratch his head. he couldn¡¯t figure out what was going on, so he could only go to the forum to take a look after going offline.

    lao yao tried to check on the lowest level wild dog and found that the level 1 wild dog only had 100 hp. the players surrounding the wild dog could only deal about 15 to 20 damage.

    this made lao yao suddenly understand that his attack was indeed very high.

    after deducting the wild dog¡¯s defense, lao yao¡¯s attack power of 16 to 32 was more than 10 points higher than these players. moreover, once a critical strike appeared, it would be even more impressive.

    thinking of this, lao yao knew what he had to do just now. therefore, he bypassed the crowd and walked further out of the novice village, wanting to kill stronger monsters.

    not long after, lao yao arrived at the respawn point of the level 2 wild boars. the wild boar had 300 hp. although its defense could not be seen, it was probably stronger than the wild dog, right? moreover, although there were players farming monsters here, there were only a few teams. compared to the sea of people at the wild dog respawn point, it was indeed much easier.

    ¡°let¡¯s give it a try here first!¡± lao yao thought for a moment and pulled out the daggers at his waist.

    however, what happened next interrupted lao yao¡¯s thoughts of leveling up.

    according to the system¡¯s default, there were two ways for assassins to hold their weapons. one was to hold their weapons with both hands forward, and the other was both hands backward. alright, the problem was that lao yao¡¯s grip on the two daggers had always been left-hand forward and right-handed backward¡­

    back in the siberian training camp, close combat had always been part of mercenary training. moreover, this kind of training was all real swords and guns. relying on a dagger, you have to survive the battle against your opponent.

    lao yao was no exception. during those three years of training, he slowly figured out a set of close combat techniques that were most suitable for him. he used two daggers. the one he held forward could be used to stab, pick, or disrupt his opponent¡¯s vision. the one he held in reverse could be used to slash, cut, and slit his opponent¡¯s throat more easily. as a result, his combat techniques became more varied.

    relying on this relatively unique combat method, lao yao survived. this combat method was also deeply engraved in lao yao¡¯s bones after countless battles with the grim reaper. it could not be changed.

    if the assassin class¡¯s weapon was one dagger, it would be fine. however, it was a double-edged weapon. this caused lao yao to subconsciously hold the dagger in his left hand forward and the one in his right hand in reverse the moment he picked up his weapons. it was completely different from the system¡¯s settings.

    therefore, the system program made a judgment in an instant and changed lao yao¡¯s grip method to a two-handed forward grip.

    humans all had habits. it was like a person who often dug their noses and casually flicked what they dug out. once they had formed a habit, if you wanted them to dig their noses and leave the stuff on their fingers without flicking it, you would definitely make them wish they were dead¡­

    although this description was very disgusting, this was how lao yao felt at this moment. after the dagger¡¯s grip was adjusted by the system, his entire body revealed that something was wrong. hence, lao yao adjusted the daggers again.

    alright, the system thought. since you don¡¯t like to hold them forward, you should hold them backward, right? thus, the daggers in lao yao¡¯s hand turned both backward.

    ¡°f*ck you!¡± lao yao finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. are you f*cking going against me?! you always have to adjust them automatically. alright! if you want to adjust, i¡¯ll let you adjust!

    as a result, lao yao¡¯s plan to level up was completely interrupted. he started to compete with the system. as long as the system changed his grip, the lao yao would immediately change it back. the system would adjust it again, and he would change it again. in short, if he didn¡¯t get his usual grip, the lao yao would rather not level up.

    if he didn¡¯t have freedom, he would rather die! this was the most appropriate way to describe lao yao¡¯s stubbornness at this moment.

    just like that, lao yao continued to compete with the system. the dagger in his hand flipped around, causing a few players who passed by him to stop curiously, wanting to see what was going on.

    lao yao was currently in a bad mood. if a person who was used to peeing while standing was forced to squat down, he would also be unhappy. hence, lao yao glared at those players and said angrily, ¡°what are you watching?! get lost!¡±

    when some players saw lao yao¡¯s fiendish appearance, they shrunk their heads and slipped away. some players who were indignant could not help but curse after leaving, ¡°are you stupid to compete with the system?¡±

    lao yao was too lazy to care about that. he focused on adjusting the daggers in his hand. unknowingly, there were more and more players around the level 2 wild boar spawn point. when lao yao realized that a long time had passed, even if lao yao wanted to admit that he had been raped by the system and continued leveling, it was impossible. there was no place for lao yao to kill monsters in peace.

    ¡°f*ck, i really don¡¯t believe it!¡± lao yao gritted his teeth and cursed. he once again threw himself into fighting with the system.

    just like that, even when the helmet reminded him that someone was knocking on the door and forced him to go offline, lao yao was still unable to kill even a single monster¡­

 Chapter 8

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    she opened the door and saw that it was meng di who was knocking on the door.

    ¡°didi? what¡¯s the matter?¡± lao yao asked gloomily.

    ¡°mr. landlord, i¡¯m¡­ i¡¯m here to call you for dinner.¡± meng di was a shy girl. she still wasn¡¯t very open when facing lao yao.

    ¡°oh, alright. thank you. let¡¯s go down now!¡± lao yao nodded and turned around to close the door. then, he went downstairs to the living room with meng di.

    at the dining table, a group of girls had already gathered. ning jing was chatting with her friends about the game. when she saw lao yao come down, she said proudly, ¡°hey, uncle, it¡¯s been an afternoon. what level are you at?¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t mention it. i haven¡¯t even leveled up once!¡± lao yao said with a bitter expression.

    ¡°no way!?¡± ning jing and the girls widened their eyes. ¡°even though there are a lot of people fighting for monsters, you can¡¯t possibly kill none, right?¡±

    yang yongle, who was sitting at the table, also looked at lao yao in confusion. the girls in the studio had already reached almost level 3 in the afternoon. lao yao, who was originally a new member that she thought highly of, was actually so far behind. this made her unable to figure it out no matter what.

    facing the girls¡¯ puzzled gazes, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but blush. he couldn¡¯t possibly say that he had been ¡°discussing¡± habits with the system since he came online, right?

    hence, he did not say anything and buried his head in his food. when he was full, he ran back to his room.

    ¡°big sister, do you think he can do it or not?¡± ning jing pouted.

    ¡°don¡¯t jump to conclusions too early!¡± yang yongle shook his head and said, ¡°after all, this is his first time playing online games. he has to adapt to it, right?¡±

    ¡°hmph, he doesn¡¯t even tell us his character attributes¡­¡± ning jing mumbled, but she didn¡¯t probe further.

    after returning to the game, lao yao wanted to quickly start leveling up. however, as soon as he held the daggers in his hand, he could not help but compete with the system again. he continued to change the way he held the daggers.

    actually, if it was a normal gamer, they wouldn¡¯t have made such a mistake. a program was a program. it couldn¡¯t be changed just by competing.

    however, lao yao was different. he was a stubborn man. although he knew that doing this might really not change anything, he couldn¡¯t help but go to the region to fight.

    it was just like how he fought for survival back then¡­

    after lao yao persisted for another two hours and some players reached level 5, lao yao finally realized that his resistance had really achieved its desired goal.

    after lao yao changed his grip, the system¡¯s adjustment that he had expected did not appear! the two daggers in his hands finally became one forward and the other backward!

    ding! a system announcement sounded in lao yao¡¯s ears. ¡°due to the persistent efforts of lao yao, the correction system has specially made changes according to the players¡¯ habits. it has activated the player¡¯s free control mode and he¡¯s rewarded the skill: backhand sword!¡±

    damn! after seven to eight hours of hard work, i finally got my reward! lao yao immediately burst into tears¡­

    in fact, lao yao¡¯s situation was not a special case. back when this game was designed, the programmer had already made preparations. after all, this was a virtual reality system. basically, people were used as references. for example, in the real world, there were many people who were left-handed. if they only played with ordinary keyboards, it would not cause any discomfort. however, once they entered virtual reality, these habitual problems would be exposed. in the system¡¯s default, they held weapons with their right hand. this way, people who were used to using their left hand would feel uncomfortable.

    the free control mode was designed for this type of people. only when players persevered and habitually changed the default settings of the system would this mode be triggered.

    many people had encountered lao yao¡¯s habit problem, but they couldn¡¯t be like him. in the golden age of the game, they would never spend seven to eight hours to correct the habit problem with the system. after they tried it, without exception, they all gave up. if they weren¡¯t used to it, so be it. anyway, with the system guiding their movements, their efficiency in killing monsters wouldn¡¯t decrease.

    therefore, lao yao could be considered the first person to eat crabs¡­

    after looking at the description of the free control mode, lao yao finally understood what was going on. when the free mode was activated, the player¡¯s movements would not be controlled by the system. take the casting of skills for example. before the free mode was activated, the system would guide the player to complete the skill movements according to the settings. however, once the free mode was activated, such skill movements would be controlled by the player on their own, and the system would no longer guide them.

    although the routine was a little formal, it was a good thing for ordinary players. after all, not everyone was an agile expert. most players were just ordinary people.

    after understanding the meaning of the free mode, lao yao knew that the invisible shackles that the system had placed on him had been broken. as for what benefits there were, he still had to slowly figure it out.

    looking back at the skill rewarded by the system, lao yao began to think about it.

    ¡°backhand sword: player lao yao¡¯s unique skill. it will only be effective if you use a right-handed weapon. consume 35 energy to deal 50% normal damage to the target with 10 additional points of damage. you will also obtain a combo point. if the target is in a stunned state, the damage will double. current level: 1. proficiency: 0%.¡±

    this skill seemed very impressive, right? however, after comparing it to the skill that lao yao assassin had when he was born, everyone would understand.

    forehand sword level 1: consumes 30 energy points, deals 75% normal damage to the target with 20 additional damage points. obtains 1 combo point. current proficiency: 0%

    the assassin class did not have an mp bar. they only had a 100/100 energy bar. forehand sword was a skill that all assassins had. after comparison, it was obvious. on the surface, the damage of the backhand sword skill that lao yao had obtained was not high. the only thing that was worth discussing was the last description, ¡°if the target is in a stunned state, the damage will be doubled.¡±

    in other words, if lao yao attacked a target in a stunned state, it would be equivalent to dealing 100% damage and adding 20 points of damage. if it was a critical strike, it would be equivalent to four times the damage!

    overall, if this skill was used well, it could be considered a very powerful skill. of course, the prerequisite was that lao yao had a skill that could stun the target¡­

    as for the effect of the skill, he still needed to verify it. however, his hard work had finally paid off, making lao yao¡¯s mood finally improve.

    ¡°level up! level up!¡± lao yao shouted. he finally did not need to be looked down upon by ning jing anymore.

    ignoring the gazes of the surrounding players that were looking at him like he was a fool, lao yao charged towards a wild boar that had just spawned beside him.

    his left hand stabbed the wild boar¡¯s front leg, and his right hand subconsciously slashed the wild boar¡¯s neck artery.

    -40

    -30

    before lao yao could continue, a wave of saber lights and sword shadows instantly killed the wild boar.

    ¡°goddamn it!¡± lao yao cursed. the two slashes just now gave him 10 experience points from this dead wild boar, but the experience points needed to level up from level 1 to level 2 was 500¡­

    after he finished cursing, lao yao immediately reacted. the two damages he dealt to the wild boar seemed to have been caused by the forehand sword skill and the backhand sword skill respectively. however, he did not have the intention to use a skill just now. could it be that the system determined it as a skill the moment he attacked?

    this couldn¡¯t go on. if he couldn¡¯t even distinguish his normal attacks and skill attacks, he wouldn¡¯t be able to grasp the rhythm of the battle. he would be in a very passive position!

    therefore, after understanding the changes brought about by the free mode, lao yao had no choice but to stop leveling and start thinking.

    in free mode, the player would be able to control the player¡¯s body. in other words, the use of skills was determined by the thoughts in the player¡¯s brain. the system only used the helmet¡¯s brainwave interception to determine the damage. if the player was in a state of unconsciousness like before, the system would default to the skill attack.

    from the looks of it, if he wanted to fight in the free mode, he had to think of a way to control his thoughts. he had to have a clear concept of when to use normal attacks and when to use skills. only then would he be able to control the rhythm of the battle.

    thinking of this, lao yao looked at the dense crowd around him. he planned to find a leveling spot with fewer people and quietly practice.

    the map of the novice village should be the same, right? lao yao sent an email to yang yongle and asked about the location of the level 5 monsters.

    ¡°you¡¯re already level 5!?¡± yang yongle¡¯s reply revealed a hint of surprise. just now, when they were eating, lao yao said that he hadn¡¯t even leveled up once. now that he suddenly wrote that he was looking for a level 5 leveling spot, how could yang yongle not be surprised?

    lao yao did not answer yang yongle¡¯s question. instead, he followed her instructions and headed towards the level 5 wild wolf spawn point¡­

 Chapter 9

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    when lao yao found the respawn point of the wild wolves, he realized that something was wrong. after he was accidentally touched by the wild wolves, his health immediately decreased by half.

    lao yao¡¯s hp was only at the initial 100 points. after each class leveled up, its hp would increase. however, the hp would vary depending on the class. the warrior class had the highest hp growth, and the assassins and mages were relatively low. in addition, lao yao had yet to level up. he was almost killed by a level 5 wild wolf.

    wild wolf, level 5 normal monster, hp 1,000; attack power 50; physical defense: 15; skill: claw strike, dealing 125% of normal damage to the target.

    after discovering that the wild wolf had dealt a lot of damage to him, lao yao became more cautious. when he saw the wild wolf pounce at him with its mouth wide open again, he tried to dodge.

    with lao yao¡¯s skills, it was relatively easy for him to dodge the wild wolf¡¯s attack. the moment he dodged, the lao yao muttered in his mind, ¡°forehand sword!¡± then, the dagger in his left hand stabbed towards the wild wolf.

    when lao yao saw a golden damage value of 45 appear above the wild wolf¡¯s head, he understood that he had succeeded in using his skill. hence, he followed up with the dagger in his right hand and swung his backhand sword again.

    the difference was that the damage this time was only 15! and it was a white number. it was actually just a normal attack!?

    lao yao was stunned for a moment. he quickly dodged the wolf¡¯s pounce and checked his skill bar.

    with a look, lao yao realized that after using the skill, there was a time to adjust one¡¯s breathing, or rather, to recover one¡¯s breath. after using the forehand sword, he needed a second before he could use other skills.

    ¡°after all, the game is different from reality. every time i attack, i need to accurately grasp the time. if i can silently calculate the time, then when to use normal attacks and when to use skills will be up to me!¡±

    after figuring this out, lao yao¡¯s concept of mastering the rhythm of battle deepened.

    after another forehand sword and backhand sword, lao yao had already accumulated three combo points on the wild wolf. thus, he activated his ultimate skill, obliteration!

    assassins were born with two skills. one was the forehand sword, which was used to accumulate combo points, and the other was the ultimate skill, obliteration.

    obliteration: consumes 3 combo points to launch 2 consecutive attacks on the target. each attack deals 125% normal damage and 20 points of additional damage. no energy consumption. current level: 1. proficiency: 0%

    before the combo points were accumulated, the obliteration skill was gray, which meant that it could not be used. once the combo points were accumulated, it would immediately become bright. lao yao had also noticed this and tried to activate it.

    after the skill was activated, lao yao felt that his body¡¯s speed had suddenly increased a lot. subconsciously, he slashed down with the dagger in his right hand and then lifted it up!

    -70!

    -68!

    after slashing twice, lao yao suddenly became distracted. when the wild wolf attacked him, he only subconsciously dodged and then counterattacked. lao yao seemed to have thought of something.

    there were still some players near the spawn point of the wild wolves. almost all of them had formed teams to level up here. when they realized that lao yao was walking over alone, they had already noticed him.

    ¡°tsk, another idiot. assassins have low defense and hp to begin with. how dare you come here alone?¡±

    the players glanced at lao yao and ignored him. they thought that lao yao would soon fall to the ground and die before returning to the novice village.

    however, after a while, the players suddenly noticed that not only did lao yao not die, but he was also fighting the wild wolf alone.

    ¡°eh? boss! look at that kid!¡± a player shouted at their captain in surprise. ¡°that kid¡¯s movements seem¡­ a little strange!¡±

    at this moment, the players in this team also noticed lao yao¡¯s actions.

    in the system¡¯s guidance mode, players¡¯ movements would be fixed by the system¡¯s framework. the most obvious ones were the hit and dodge values.

    these two values were not displayed in the character attributes. they could be considered hidden attributes. other than magic attacks with a hit rate of 100%, the system¡¯s default hit rate for physical attacks was 95%. as for the dodging rate, it varied according to the profession. the highest was assassin, which had a 10% dodging rate. moreover, as the agility attribute increased, it would grow.

    in the system¡¯s guidance mode, no matter whether you dodged or not, when the monster¡¯s attack landed on you, the system would make a judgment to see if you were hit or if you had the chance to dodge. in other words, whether you could dodge or not was up to the system.

    lao yao¡¯s actions were strange to other players. that was because every time the lao yao dodged the wild wolves¡¯ attacks, the words ¡°miss¡± would appear above the lao yao¡¯s head¡­

    ¡°really?!¡± the players in the team looked at each other. in fact, it was not impossible for them to dodge like this, but the prerequisite was that they had to have more than 100 agility. 100 points! they could only get 10 attribute points by leveling up. even the assassin class in their team, who added full agility, would probably need to be around level 12 to get it!

    that guy couldn¡¯t be over level 10 now, right?!

    ¡°second brother! go solo!¡± the captain pointed at the assassin in their team and said, ¡°try to dodge like that kid. see if you can really dodge it!¡±

    ¡°me?!¡± the assassin player was stunned.

    ¡°that¡¯s right! hurry up!¡± all the players in the team nodded in unison and pushed the assassin into the fire pit without hesitation¡­

    under pressure, the assassin player had no choice but to brace himself and fight a wild wolf alone. he began to dodge with all his might.

    the group of players behind him kept pointing. ¡°left, left! dodge to the left!¡±

    ¡°butt! don¡¯t twist your butt around! do you think you¡¯re dancing?!¡±

    before these players could enjoy being teachers, the assassin let out a scream and fell to the ground.

    the assassin was dead¡­

    the group of players was stunned for a long time. after a long while, the captain suddenly slapped his thigh. ¡°i knew it wouldn¡¯t work! there must be some trick!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier!? the assassin who died wanted to cry but had no tears¡­

    when they turned around and continued to look at lao yao, they were prepared to observe how lao yao dodged the monster¡¯s attacks. in the end, they realized that after lao yao killed the wild wolf, he actually sat cross-legged on the ground with his chin propped up, as if he was thinking about something.

    hmm? could it be that i have to pretend to be in deep thought before i can dodge attacks? the players were puzzled for a long time. in the end, the leader of the team also led his team members and sat on the ground, assuming the same ¡°thinker¡± posture as lao yao.

    as for the difference between what they were thinking and what lao yao was thinking, it was not something that others could understand¡­

    the reason why lao yao sat down was because he discovered a problem. he had activated free mode and his body was under his control, and he would not be disturbed by the system when using skills. however, this way, a problem appeared. skills could not be limited to those three. when he learned a new skill in the future, without the system¡¯s guidance, how would he know what the effect of the skill would be?

    it was just like the obliteration skill just now. although he knew that it was two consecutive attacks and lao yao had used it, consuming combo points to achieve the damage effect, why was it like this?

    lao yao had never seen other players use ultimate skills, so he could not make a good judgment. therefore, he was distracted just now. moreover, after unconsciously killing the wild wolf, he sat down and thought about this problem.

    recalling the feeling when he used the ultimate skill earlier, lao yao suddenly had an idea. hence, he patted his butt and stood up, planning to verify it again.

    after finding another wild wolf, lao yao accumulated three combo points on its body and chanted in his mind, ¡°obliteration!¡± then, he swung his saber.

    this time, under lao yao¡¯s deliberate control, he did not attack twice. instead, he only slashed once!

    -135!

    on the head of the wild wolf, another golden figure floated out, indicating the damage of the skill!

    it could actually¡­ really be like this!?

 Chapter 10

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    lao yao¡¯s conjecture about ¡°freedom¡± came to a conclusion through this practice.

    although the damage did not increase, being able to combine the skills that originally required two consecutive attacks into one was a considerable improvement for lao yao.

    what did that mean?

    from one perspective, it could make continuous skills that might have been very gorgeous become simpler, faster, and more lethal! this was returning to the true essence of battle.

    on the other hand, since he could simplify the operation, he could also complicate it. for example, he could separate a skill and only attack when he needed to attack the most, making the battle more diverse!

    the free mode had a deeper explanation in lao yao¡¯s hands.

    with this in mind, lao yao could not help but laugh wildly after taking down the wild wolf with a few more slashes.

    the party of players who had been watching the entire battle could not help but whisper, ¡°boss! look at that guy. from the beginning to the end, that wild wolf did not even touch him! and his attack is so high!¡±

    wild wolves with 1,000 hp were not difficult to defeat. however, not everyone could deal with them cleanly like lao yao. just like this player party in front of them, they had four people in their team, two warriors, an assassin, and a mage. they also needed to form a party to level up efficiently. in their eyes, a lone traveler like lao yao was simply an unbelievable existence.

    the leader of the player team seemed to have gained some inspiration from his previous contemplation. after hearing his teammates¡¯ words, he said very ¡°deeply¡±, ¡°it seems that we have encountered a legendary expert!¡±

    ¡°expert!?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right!¡± the boss nodded solemnly. ¡°isn¡¯t that how it¡¯s written in novels? killing a person in ten steps and not leaving a trace in a thousand miles! isn¡¯t this person in front of you?¡±

    ¡°no way! i think it would take him more than a minute to kill a wild wolf!¡± the assassin who had just revived in the party interrupted, ¡°isn¡¯t it too exaggerated to say that he could kill a person in ten steps?¡±

    ¡°get lost! what the hell do you know!¡± the boss finally managed to quote something, but he was still mocked by the assassin. he flew into a rage out of humiliation and scolded, ¡°you¡¯re both assassins, but look at how he¡¯s doing! you go fight a wild wolf alone. learn how to dodge the attacks of the monsters like him!¡±

    the assassin immediately felt resentful¡­

    lao yao did not pay much attention to the guesses of others. his attention was already focused on killing monsters to level up.

    ¡°that little girl ning jing, just you wait. how dare you laugh at me!¡± lao yao gritted his teeth and vented his fury on the wild wolf. ¡°how dare you call me uncle!¡±

    a level 1 character had killed a level 5 monster above his level. naturally, the experience he gained was much higher. after the fourth wild wolf fell, a circle of golden magic array suddenly appeared under lao yao¡¯s feet. a pillar of light shot into the sky from it. he had leveled up!

    lao yao looked at his character attributes and realized that after leveling up, his strength and intelligence had increased by one point each, while his agility had increased by two points. in addition, he had also obtained 10 free attribute points.

    it seemed that when he chose his race, the system said that the shadow race had a bonus in agility. this should be what it meant! lao yao added all 10 free attribute points to agility. his agility became 42, and his high and low attack increased by 12 and 6 points, becoming 22 to 44.

    his physical defense had also increased by 1 point. from the looks of it, the assassin profession should gain 1 point of physical defense for every 10 points of agility.

    the wolf corpse that fell at lao yao¡¯s feet glowed slightly. something must have fallen, so lao yao began to loot the corpse¡­

    complete wolf skin.

    as for the wolf skin, lao yao happened to need it for a quest he received, so he put it away. as for the low-level monster-killing quests he received when he left the novice village, the lao yao was too lazy to go back and kill those low-level monsters due to the stimulation of the high experience points. he simply gave up and focused on killing the wild wolves.

    perhaps it was because of the monster-slaying performance just now, but when lao yao faced the wild wolves again, no one came to fight with him for the monsters. the nearby players consciously distanced themselves from lao yao¡¯s monster-slaying area. there were even a few groups of people who tried to pull lao yao into their party, but lao yao rejected them.

    he wanted to experience the free mode by constantly killing monsters, so he naturally wouldn¡¯t form a team with others. only when he faced monsters alone could he focus. if he formed a team with others, his teammates would occasionally slash the enemy from the side. not only would it disrupt his vision, but it would also disturb his battle rhythm.

    as usual, practice was the only criterion to test the truth. as lao yao continued to kill monsters, more and more interesting situations appeared.

    that was when lao yao was killing the fifth wild wolf, the wild wolf was provoked by lao yao. not only could it not hit him, but it also lost more than half of its hp. at this moment, lao yao had also accumulated three combo points. without thinking, he directly used his simplified ultimate skill: obliteration!

    however, after this slash, lao yao only felt a scorching white light flash past his eyes, and the scene in his vision seemed to tremble.

    -278!

    a huge golden number filled with shock floated above the wolf¡¯s head. the wolf, which originally needed a few more slashes to die, let out a wail and fell to the ground¡­

    no matter how stupid lao yao was, he understood one thing: a critical strike!

    the abnormally strong impact coming from the wild wolf made lao yao tremble in pleasure. the design of critical strike damage in this game simply made one unable to stop.

    not only did the high critical strike damage make him feel a sense of accomplishment, but even the state of the first critical strike also gave him a unique experience that he had never tasted before. as a result, after the wild wolf fell, lao yao forgot to reach out to loot the corpse. instead, he stood on the spot in a daze and kept recalling the moment of impact just now¡­

    lao yao was not the only one who was stunned. there were also a few players who had been secretly paying attention to lao yao. when they saw the golden number floating above the wild wolf¡¯s head, everyone was dumbfounded.

    why was the damage so high!?

    the surrounding players were basically players around level 4 to 5. even if they knew that the assassin¡¯s attack was very high, it was definitely impossible for it to be so ridiculous!?

    278 critical strike damage. in other words, under normal circumstances, lao yao¡¯s damage to the wild wolves should be more than 130! what a terrifying number! it had to be known that even if the surrounding players used their strongest skills, the damage they could deal to the wild wolves would at most be between 70 to 80!

    this made them constantly wonder what level our lao yao was at¡­

    in fact, although the lao yao¡¯s damage value was terrifying, it was actually only the combination of the damages of the two attacks of the ultimate skill. it was not as unbelievable as the players thought. in terms of normal damage, the lao yao was indeed very high, but it was not much higher than them.

    at this moment, lao yao did not realize that the surrounding players had stopped leveling because of him. he was immersed in a crazy thought.

    he wondered¡­ if critical strike could be controlled?!

 Chapter 11

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    if it was anyone who often played online games, they would not have such crazy thoughts like lao yao.

    what a joke. probability was probability. that was a random judgment made by the system, alright? how could it be controlled by someone?! if he wanted to increase the chance of a critical hit, he should obediently increase his attributes and equipment.

    this thought that the other players scoffed at was rooted in lao yao¡¯s mind. he was not someone who often played games, so his thoughts were not restricted by the framework of the previous games. what seemed impossible to other players, lao yao would try it based on his intuition as long as he thought of it.

    this was the difference between lao yao and others. it was just like how he competed with the system in the beginning¡­

    this time, lao yao was purely pursuing the extreme feeling of the moment when the critical hit occurred. that vibrating scene during the critical hit and the refreshing feeling made lao yao involuntarily feel a pleasure, attracting him to constantly pursue this feeling of critical hit.

    in fact, many people had experienced lao yao¡¯s current situation before. some players who liked to play the assassin profession would only play it because they wanted to pursue the feeling of critical hits causing extreme damage. lao yao had the same mentality as them. the difference was that lao yao¡¯s thoughts were a little serious. he actually wanted to control critical hits to a range that he could control.

    of course, this thought was actually based on lao yao¡¯s desire to control the rhythm of the battle. after all, if it was an uncontrollable critical strike, it would be an unexpected situation. this was not a good thing for someone who was used to calculating accurately.

    since he had thought of it, he would do it. lao yao¡¯s quality was commendable. regardless of whether he could succeed or not, how could he not give it a try?

    hence, lao yao started to kill monsters again. the difference was that this time, while controlling the output of his skills, lao yao¡¯s mind was repeatedly recalling the scene when the critical hit appeared previously.

    he was recalling the feeling at that moment, and trying to reproduce it through his own control.

    however, it was a pity that when the wild wolf that was attacked by lao yao fell, lao yao was unable to complete his plan. even the random critical hit given by the system did not appear once. the assassin profession had a natural 5% critical hit rate. although it was slightly higher than the 3% critical hit rate of other professions, it was not that high after all.

    what was the problem? lao yao stopped and pondered carefully. actually, just now, he had already vaguely grasped a trace of inspiration, but he was still unable to unleash it.

    there must be something that he missed. lao yao shook his head in frustration. based on the scene of a critical hit, it was probably impossible to deduce anything. after all, even if he had an impression of the scene of a critical hit, it would not be too clear.

    at the thought of this, lao yao continued to attack the wild wolves. he still needed many critical hits to verify it, so he could only wait for the probability of the system to appear.

    just like that, under the incredulous gazes of the surrounding players, a slaughter machine appeared.

    lao yao crazily slaughtered the wild wolves and waited for every critical hit to appear. as his attack was high and he had the ability to actively dodge the attacks of the monsters, his efficiency in killing the monsters was extremely high. basically, after killing one wild wolf, he would immediately pounce on another one without needing to rest or recover.

    as time passed, the surrounding gamers also realized that only when lao yao dealt a critical hit would he pause after killing the monster. it was as if he was thinking about something, making the gamers confused.

    this situation only stopped when lao yao¡¯s helmet sent a signal that someone was knocking on the door. when lao yao¡¯s figure disappeared, the players heaved a sigh of relief.

    damn it, he was a super leveling maniac! lao yao alone had actually snatched so many monsters from the surrounding players. almost every player would subconsciously hide to the side when they saw lao yao rushing over with a crazy expression. even the monsters they were killing were obediently given to lao yao¡­

    fortunately, that guy went offline. while he is not around, we have to level up quickly. otherwise, when he came back, we wouldn¡¯t have a chance again!

    the surrounding players all had this thought in mind, and they seized the time to immerse themselves in the hot business of leveling¡­

    lao yao took off his helmet and carefully removed the nerve sensor that was stuck to his back. he stood up and opened the door of the room. he saw meng di¡¯s figure.

    ¡°mr. landlord, i¡¯ve prepared night snacks. do you want some?¡±

    so that was how it was. lao yao immediately understood and temporarily put aside the problem that was giving him a headache. he smiled and greeted, ¡°didi, thank you. i¡¯ve troubled you to call me again!¡±

    meng di blushed and said, ¡°it¡¯s not troublesome¡­¡±

    to be honest, running to a single man¡¯s room to call him over was an unprecedented test for an introverted girl like meng di. with meng di¡¯s personality, she would never have done it in the past.

    however, meng di had a good impression of lao yao. back then, when they were renting the house, although the girls in the studio used the excuse of eating together to lower lao yao¡¯s rent by 1,000 yuan, meng di actually knew that this was not the result of them bargaining. instead, it was because of lao yao¡¯s good intentions. after all, when meng di cooked, she usually cooked for 12 people. adding lao yao to the list was just an additional set of chopsticks and bowls. it was not worth as much as 500 yuan. the reason why lao yao agreed was because the girls in the studio were not rich.

    based on this point, meng di knew that lao yao¡¯s personality was very different from his appearance. furthermore, as a chef, the happiest thing was undoubtedly that there were people who liked his cooking. although the girls in the studio had praised meng di¡¯s culinary skills, they did not express it as strongly as lao yao¡¯s body language. it was also because of this that meng di thought that lao yao was a straightforward person. his attitudes were always unambiguous and he was an easy person to get along with. that was why she dared to call him.

    this little girl is still too shy! seeing meng di¡¯s expression, lao yao thought to himself. however, he smiled and said, ¡°let¡¯s go down together.¡±

    when they arrived at the brightly lit living room downstairs, the girls were already seated around the table. seeing that lao yao and meng di had arrived, ning jing shouted for them to eat.

    although the night snack was instant dumplings, due to meng di¡¯s exceptional culinary skills, the bowl of dumplings was fragrant and very appetizing. as lao yao was still thinking about how to control his critical hit, he wanted to get up and return to his room to continue playing games after eating the food. however, he was stopped by yang yongle.

 Chapter 12

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°don¡¯t be in a hurry to go back!¡± yang yongle smiled and said, ¡°it¡¯s nighttime now. if you lie down after eating, it¡¯s not good for digestion or maintaining your figure. it¡¯s very easy to get fat! don¡¯t tell me you want to have a small belly?¡±

    lao yao didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. so this was what it was about. no wonder the bunch of girls were sitting in the living room without getting up.

    ¡°hello, uncle!¡± at this moment, ning jing also spoke. ¡°come over and have a chat. i heard from sister lele that you asked her about the leveling point of level 5 this afternoon. you reached level 5 so quickly?¡±

    ¡°level?¡± lao yao was stunned for a moment. when he went offline just now, he forgot to take a look. he did not know what level he was at now. however, after killing monsters for so long, he should be almost there, right? hence, he nodded and said, ¡°i think so?¡±

    ¡°what do you mean by that? are you patronizing us?¡± ning jing was unhappy. ¡°are you lying to us? there are so many people fighting and killing monsters, and the leveling experience is so high. how can you reach level 5 in an hour?¡±

    ¡°are there a lot of people fighting for monsters?¡± lao yao was a little depressed. ¡°why didn¡¯t i realize that?¡±

    ¡®of course you don¡¯t think so. you¡¯re always stealing other people¡¯s monsters¡­¡¯

    however, in ning jing¡¯s ears, she thought that lao yao had found a place without many people to level up. she was relieved and said, ¡°it¡¯s really difficult to level up. in our team, the highest level is sister keke. she¡¯s level 7 now!¡±

    lao yao looked at wang ke in surprise. the only girl in this studio who chose the assassin profession was actually so strong!?

    although she always had a calm expression during the day, making lao yao feel that this girl was not simple, he did not expect her to be so powerful. lao yao could not help but be shocked.

    when she saw lao yao looking over, wang ke also gave him a rare smile. that look seemed to be a combination of exhaustion and relief, causing lao yao¡¯s heart to tremble uncontrollably.

    this girl seemed to have been silently working hard for their studio¡­

    ¡°why? you don¡¯t believe me?¡± ning jing seemed to have been picking a fight with lao yao. when she saw lao yao and wang ke ¡°exchanging glances¡±, she was even more unhappy. she shouted, ¡°let me tell you, sister keke is very strong. her initial agility of 18 points is also close to max. now that she¡¯s level 7, her maximum attack power is 95 points!¡±

    ¡°maximum attack power of 95 points!?¡± lao yao praised. ¡°it¡¯s indeed very high!¡±

    wang ke¡¯s initial agility was 18 points. if she chose a race with agility bonuses, then every level up would give her an additional 2 points of agility. now that she was level 7 and had leveled up 6 times, it meant that she had gained 12 points. coupled with the 60 free attribute points after leveling up, if she invested all of them in agility and plus the weapon in her hand, she would almost have this value.

    i wonder how many attacks i will have when i reach wang ke¡¯s level? lao yao thought.

    wait, maximum attack power!?

    after this term suddenly flashed across lao yao¡¯s mind, the difficulties that he had encountered in the game previously seemed to have been resolved and he suddenly became cheerful!

    ¡°i understand!¡± lao yao suddenly stood up, giving the group of girls a fright. just as they were about to ask him what was wrong, they saw lao yao running upstairs and rushing back to his room.

    ¡°did he eat gunpowder?!¡± ning jing widened her eyes. ¡°why did he suddenly make such a big move? i was shocked!¡±

    ¡°i don¡¯t know!¡± yang yongle shook her head in confusion. ¡°from the looks of it, he seems to have something urgent.¡±

    ¡°hmph, who cares!¡± ning jing pouted and snorted. then, she held yang yongle¡¯s arm ingratiatingly and said with a smile, ¡°sister lele, let¡¯s go swimming. we¡¯ve just arrived these few days and are too embarrassed to swim in front of that perverted uncle. since he¡¯s not around now, let¡¯s go to the pool to play!¡±

    ¡°girl! you¡¯re just thinking about that private pool!¡± yang yongle poked her head in amusement, but then agreed.

    ¡°yay!¡± ning jing cheered and called out, ¡°sisters, hurry! let¡¯s go together!¡±

    the group of girls ran to their rooms playfully. after confirming that they would rent lao yao¡¯s house, they had secretly bought swimsuits. now, the swimsuits could be of use.

    wang ke didn¡¯t go crazy with ning jing. instead, she got up and prepared to return to her room to continue playing. in the end, yang yongle saw through her intentions and gently pulled her back.

    ¡°ke¡¯er, relax once in a while. i know you¡¯ve worked hard for the studio!¡± yang yongle persuaded her with a sigh.

    ¡°but¡­¡± wang ke hesitated for a moment. if lao yao was here, he would definitely be surprised at how pleasant her voice was.

    ¡°no buts!¡± yang yongle hugged her and smiled. ¡°don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t be left too far behind. everyone only has ten hours in the game. when the time comes, they will be forced to go offline. it¡¯s almost time for those who entered at the same time as us to go offline. we can rest in peace.¡±

    ¡°well¡­¡±

    after finally getting wang ke¡¯s approval, yang yongle chuckled and pulled her back to her room to change¡­

    as for lao yao, after rushing back to his room, he immediately put on his helmet, pasted the sensor, and entered the game.

    after being reminded by ning jing, lao yao finally realized where his problem was. thinking back carefully, every time lao yao¡¯s critical hit appeared, the damage was almost infinitely close to his maximum damage!

    maximum damage! that was the key!

    it was just like the first time he dealt a critical hit to the wild wolf. at that time, the damage was 278. since the critical hit was 200% damage, and it was the combination of the two ultimate skills, the number divided by 4 should be the normal damage value without a critical hit.

    this number should be 69.5, calculated as 70.

    at that time, lao yao¡¯s maximum attack power was 66. although it was not as high as 70, the damage value of the ultimate skill was 125% damage and 20 additional damage. with this calculation, after deducting the defense of the wild wolf, this was about the number.

    with this conjecture, lao yao once again thought of the few critical damages that had appeared later on. they seemed to be similar situations.

    when the critical hit appeared, the attack power would fluctuate between 90% to 100% of the maximum damage! in other words, if his attack at that time could only unleash the lowest 22 points, it would be impossible for a critical hit to appear!

    this hint of inspiration was caught by lao yao. his current problem was that if he could control the damage every time and could unleash damage infinitely close to the maximum, there was a high chance that he could control the appearance of a critical hit!

    if some powerful programmer understood lao yao¡¯s thoughts at this moment, he would probably be shocked. this was because his way of thinking was completely a reverse engineering of the established program!

    this was the train of thought. under normal circumstances, the system would determine if the attack had met the random 5% chance. if it was, then the player¡¯s attack would be infinitely close to the maximum value. moreover, multiplying this value by two would result in critical damage and there would be a critical hit effect.

    lao yao¡¯s reverse engineering was to allow each of his attacks to be infinitely close to the maximum damage value that would correspond to the 5% chance.

    whether it was possible or not, lao yao still had to verify it in the game. however, to be able to think of such a method that others could not think of was the difference between people¡­

    wasn¡¯t there a saying? geniuses came from that 1% of inspiration! the key was whether you could find the hidden breakthrough point.

    when lao yao went upstairs, he kept thinking about this question. perhaps in previous games, it was impossible to rely on human factors to control his damage output. however, this was a virtual reality game. moreover, lao yao was a player who had activated free mode. since he could forcefully change the original settings of the system and create a new weapon grip and new skill movements, who could say that he could not create a critical hit?

    the more he thought about it, the more lao yao felt that he had a high chance of success. hence, he quickly entered the game and prepared to verify it.

    however, when lao yao entered the game and appeared at the spawn point of the wild wolves again, he realized that the gamers who were fighting monsters around him before he went offline had all gathered together and were even shouting in a mess.

    ¡°hurry up! warriors, block the position and hold the aggro! don¡¯t let it over! if you let it over, we¡¯ll be done for!¡±

    ¡°priest! priest, heal up! don¡¯t let the main tank die! mage, control your damage output!¡±

    ¡°damn it! that assassin! do you think you¡¯re a warrior?! you actually resisted the monster head-on! do you know what ambush means?!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right. if you die now, no one will pull you up. when the time comes, you can run over yourself¡­¡±

    the forest at the spawn point was noisy and lively. it made lao yao, who had never seen the world, depressed for a while.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on? could it be that the situation of snatching monsters has become so serious?¡± lao yao scratched his head and went forward to see what was going on.

    coincidentally, at this moment, a person who looked like a warrior retreated from the front. he took out a bottle of red potion in a sorry state and drank it. after waiting for a while, he wanted to rush forward again.

    however, lao yao pulled him around and asked him, ¡°bro, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    with this pull, the warrior was just about to curse when he saw lao yao¡¯s appearance clearly. he hurriedly changed his words. ¡°ah! brother expert! you¡¯re online?¡±

    this warrior was the leader of the previous player team¡­

    upon seeing lao yao, this leader¡¯s eyes lit up. he did not answer lao yao¡¯s question. instead, he grabbed lao yao¡¯s hand as if he had seen his own father and said, ¡°brother expert, come into our team! let¡¯s fight the wolf king boss together!¡±

 Chapter 13

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°wolf king boss!?¡± lao yao was shocked. he didn¡¯t expect that it would be born here while he went offline for night snacks.

    ¡°that¡¯s right, that¡¯s right!¡± the warrior leader scratched his head and said, ¡°however, to be precise, it can¡¯t be considered a real boss. it¡¯s an elite leader!¡±

    in the era of the gods, there were two types of bosses. one was wild bosses, and the other was instance dungeon bosses. there was usually only one wild boss in each area, and there might be plenty in instance dungeons. it was mainly based on the difficulty of the instance dungeon.

    every novice village was the same. there were no wild bosses here. there would only be elite monsters like the wolf king that randomly spawned. however, the players were used to calling them bosses. most of them were called big bosses and small bosses.

    regardless of whether it was big or small, it was synonymous with top-grade equipment in the eyes of players, especially in the era of the gods. ordinary monsters rarely dropped items. if the players wanted equipment, they had to do missions, fight bosses, forge items with life skills, or obtain them from dungeons.

    basically, there were not many players around who could gain a full set of equipment. even if they were wearing it, it was only a blank piece of equipment rewarded by the novice mission.

    therefore, as soon as the elite wolf king with the blue name appeared, the surrounding players immediately became excited. more than 40 players in the small forest spontaneously formed a team and started fighting, waiting to split the equipment after killing the boss.

    the maximum number of players in each team was six. the players here were divided into several teams. as the boss¡¯s ownership was determined based on the final damage value, it meant that the party that killed the boss had reduced most of its hp, and the equipment that dropped in the end would be picked up by the party.

    there might be people who wanted to kill someone and steal their treasures, but unfortunately, there was no way to pk in the novice village¡­

    hence, the players of the various teams desperately dealt damage, hoping to take as much hp as possible before finally obtaining the ownership of the equipment.

    however, the elite wolf king was a little too powerful for the gamers. not only did it have 20,000 hp, but its physical defense was also extremely high. currently, other than a few mages who could take advantage of its low magic defense to deal damage to it, the warriors and assassins could not break through its defense at all. basically, they only dealt 1 or 2 damage. if this continued, it would probably take a few hours.

    what the players feared the most was the wolf king¡¯s attack. level 5 and 6 assassins would immediately lose most of their hp after being touched by the wolf king. if the wolf king accidentally used a skill, then sorry, brother, you would have to run over from the novice village¡­

    the leader of this player team in front of him was probably at the bottom of his health when he went up to tank the monsters just now. he had no choice but to retreat to replenish his health. he did not expect lao yao to come online at this time and was even held back by him. therefore, in his joy, the leader tried his best to invite lao yao to join the team.

    in his opinion, with the addition of an expert like lao yao who dealt extremely high damage, the wolf king was basically in the bag¡­

    ¡°brother expert, the people urgently need you!¡± the leader waved his hands and advised, ¡°as long as you come, you can choose the equipment first!¡±

    lao yao looked at the elite wolf king that was surrounded by the players like a calf. after some thought, he agreed to join the team.

    he also understood the importance of equipment at this stage. if he could kill a boss and obtain better equipment, it would be very helpful for his future leveling and development. coupled with the fact that there were so many players around, it was impossible for lao yao to snatch the boss away alone. therefore, finding a team to join was the wisest choice.

    seeing that lao yao was the same, the leader became excited and added lao yao into the team impatiently.

    in the game, players would not have a name above their head like in previous games. therefore, if they had not introduced themselves or formed a team, it was usually impossible to know other people¡¯s game names based on their appearance. after joining the team, lao yao realized that the characters¡¯ names of the five people in this team were quite interesting.

    name: bed 1 in room 304, which was the warrior player in front of him. the other four were the same: bed 2 in room 304, assassin; bed 4 in room 306, warrior; bed 4 in room 310, mage; bed 6 in room 311, mage.

    there were two warriors, two mages, and an assassin. such a team had high damage output, but they did not have the ability to continue fighting. no wonder the warrior leader of bed 1 could only drink the expensive potions bought from the novice village shop. there was no priest to heal him at all.

    ¡°hehe, brother expert, so that¡¯s your name! why don¡¯t i just call you brother lao yao!¡± the soldier scratched his head and smiled foolishly. ¡°we¡¯re classmates from the same faculty in university. when we were randomly assigned to the novice village, we were lucky enough to be together, so we¡¯ve been teaming up to level up.¡±

    lao yao nodded. actually, it could be seen from their names. they were all characters based on their dormitory and bed numbers.

    when they saw that their leader had added another person into the party, the other guys in the party shouted, ¡°boss! did you add someone? then hurry up and fight the boss. otherwise, the ownership will be snatched away by another party!¡±

    comrade bed one snorted arrogantly and said, ¡°what¡¯s there to be afraid of? don¡¯t worry. with brother lao yao around, the boss will definitely be ours!¡±

    ¡°brother lao yao?¡± the assassin in bed 2 did not see lao yao and asked in confusion, ¡°boss, when did you get the habit of calling other people brothers randomly?!¡±

    ¡°get lost!¡± bed 1 was furious. ¡°what do you mean by calling brothers randomly? let me tell you, brother lao yao is really good!¡±

    listening to the team¡¯s voice chat, lao yao could not help but smile bitterly. since when did he have an admirer?

    when they saw lao yao walk into the battle circle, they were instantly excited. ¡°boss! you¡¯re too awesome! you actually pulled brother expert in!¡±

    ¡°hmph! that¡¯s right. don¡¯t you know who i am?!¡± bed 1 said smugly.

    ¡°alright, alright, stop flattering me!¡± lao yao waved his hand and said, ¡°let¡¯s start fighting the boss!¡± after saying that, he did not wait for everyone to reply and charged towards the wolf king.

    the group of university students¡¯ blood boiled. ¡°as expected of brother expert! he¡¯s so fierce!¡± then, they rushed forward.

    the elite wolf king was blocked in place by a group of warrior players. there was not much space left for lao yao to fight. however, this did not hinder lao yao¡¯s performance. after finding a gap, he began to attack.

    when he went online, lao yao realized that he was already level 5. after adding all 40 free attribute points to agility, lao yao¡¯s damage had increased to 70-114. this made lao yao sigh at the huge difference between the upper limit of his attack and the lower limit. it also made him more determined about the maximum damage value.

    in reality, if one wanted to rely on weapons to deal the greatest damage to the enemy, they usually had to use their greatest strength and maintain the speed of their attacks. with this thought in mind, lao yao focused his attention and completely treated the elite wolf king in front of him as a dangerous enemy. he took on the posture of fighting to the death.

    the forehand sword slashed out, bringing with it the cold light of a weapon as it ruthlessly stabbed into the wolf king¡¯s neck.

    -40!

    a golden skill damage number floated up, causing the surrounding players to be stunned. their gazes focused on lao yao.

    it broke through the target¡¯s defense?! it actually broke through its defense?! this was the first time they had seen such a high damage value since they attacked the wolf king!?

    to be honest, lao yao¡¯s attack was only a little more than 10 points higher than other assassin players. however, from the damage attributes of lao yao, it could be seen that there was a huge difference between the upper and lower limits of players¡¯ attacks in this game. if they could not unleash effective attacks, it was inevitable that they would not be able to break through the wolf king¡¯s defense.

    at this moment, lao yao was also a little excited. his guess was correct. in free mode, the amount of strength used to attack was completely related to the upper limit of damage. the strength used was great, the movements were fast and simple, and the entry point was accurate. as long as these three factors were controlled well, he could completely control the damage value as he pleased.

    in his agitation, lao yao focused his mind again. he kept recalling the scene of the critical hit. soon, lao yao felt that he had that feeling in his hand. hence, without thinking, he swung the forehand sword again.

    a ray of light flashed past his eyes, and the scene trembled again. the powerful impact and the loud sound in his ears told lao yao that he had succeeded¡­

    ¡°critical hit! -90!¡±

    he really succeeded! lao yao was inexplicably excited, but he still stabilized his mind and continued to immerse himself in the feeling of critical hit.

    ¡°critical hit! -88!¡±

    ¡°critical hit! -92!¡±

    ¡°critical hit! -86!¡±

    four consecutive critical hits!!!

 Chapter 14

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    such terrifying damage made the surrounding players suck in a breath of cold air. who was this person in front of them?! he had removed nearly 400 hp from the wolf king!

    ¡°ah! i remember now! it¡¯s him! he¡¯s online!¡± a player finally recognized lao yao. he was the expert who had snatched more than 40 player monsters by himself!

    ¡°strong! he¡¯s really strong! what critical hit rate does he have?!¡± the players thought nervously, and their attacks naturally slowed down.

    this was a big deal. due to lao yao¡¯s continuous powerful attacks, the elite wolf king¡¯s aggro was focused on lao yao. it ignored the group of warriors surrounding it and pounced towards lao yao.

    although the elite wolf king was known as an elite, its attack pattern was actually the same as that of an ordinary wild wolf. lao yao was confident that he could completely dodge its attacks, but¡­ that was only possible when the surroundings were empty and there was more space for him¡­

    there were almost people in front and behind him. lao yao could not dodge in time and 170 hp was instantly reduced by the wolf king!

    lao yao was only level 5 now. as an assassin, he only had 180 hp. the wolf king had almost killed him instantly!

    the disadvantage of an assassin with a low hp was immediately revealed. lao yao was also so frightened that he broke out in cold sweat. fortunately, the wolf king¡¯s attack just now was only a normal attack. if it had used a skill, he would probably have returned to the novice village in an instant. at that time, he would have lost a lot of face!

    in bed 1¡¯s team, they could clearly see that lao yao¡¯s health bar was emptied in an instant. they, who were originally so excited about lao yao¡¯s four consecutive critical hits that they wanted to vomit blood and die, were jolted awake by this situation. just like lao yao, they were so frightened that their foreheads were covered in sweat.

    ¡®f*ck! brother expert is a high-attack player! no wonder his defense is so weak! second brother is also an assassin, but he still has a quarter of his hp left after being hit by the wolf king!¡¯

    with this thought in mind, bed 1 pulled bed 4 of dorm 306, who was also a warrior, and said, ¡°quick! go up and help!¡±

    just as lao yao was carefully dodging the wolf king¡¯s attack, he heard comrade bed 1 shout in the team, ¡°brother lao yao, hold on! we¡¯re coming!¡±

    warriors also did not have mp. their attacks needed to accumulate rage points. every attack would accumulate rage points that could be used on skills. bed 1 did not have much rage points because he had retreated to drink potions earlier. he could only use a warrior¡¯s own attack skill: smash!

    as for bed 4, who was also a warrior, because he had accumulated rage earlier, he used shield bash to try to control the wolf king.

    shield bash: hit the enemy with your shield, dealing 15 fixed damage and stunning them for 1 second. consumes 20 rage points. cooldown: 1 minute!

    originally, the original intention of bed 4 was to control the wolf king and then gather his and bed 1¡¯s attacks to see if they could pull the wolf king¡¯s aggro back. however, due to a freak combination of factors, lao yao obtained an even more shocking opportunity to attack.

    stunned!? when a circle of white status effects appeared on the wolf king¡¯s head, this word flashed across lao yao¡¯s mind. then, he subconsciously swung his backhand sword with his right hand¡­

    ¡°critical hit! -150!¡±

    when this damage value floated up, the warrior on bed 4 was just like the others. while they were all dumbfounded, they could not help but roll their eyes. it¡¯s over¡­ i can¡¯t get this aggro back¡­

    ¡°damage¡­ damage has exceeded 100!?¡± the group of players rubbed their eyes as if they had seen a ghost.

    this was too unbelievable! the elite wolf king in front of them had a defense of at least 100. although everyone knew that as long as they could break through its defense, they could still deal normal damage to the wolf king. however, the current damage was so high that it far exceeded their imagination.

    on the other hand, lao yao was ecstatic. the power of the backhand sword had simply exceeded his imagination. although he did not think much of it from the introduction, once his target was in a stunned state, it was simply a super damage output skill!

    ¡°backhand sword: consumes 35 energy points, dealing 50% normal damage and an additional 10 points of damage to the target. if the target is in a stunned state, the damage will be doubled.¡±

    when such a skill attacked the enemy in a stunned state, the damage was much higher than the forehand sword. moreover, it was only a level 1 skill now. when the proficiency level was maxed out, it could be upgraded, and the damage would increase again!

    this skill must be upgraded as soon as possible! lao yao secretly made up his mind.

    with such a precedent, lao yao naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of such a good opportunity to deal damage. he shouted to bed 1 and the others, ¡°continue to use the shield bash skill! stun it! this way, i can kill it faster!¡±

    ¡°oh! understood!¡± bed 1 was dazed for a moment. although he did not understand why lao yao would say that, looking at the damage number just now, he vaguely realized something. hence, he hurriedly gathered his rage points and used a shield to hit the wolf king.

    dizzy! lao yao hurriedly swung his backhand sword.

    unfortunately, because he was too excited earlier, lao yao did not manage to grasp the feeling well this time and did not manage to deal critical damage. hence, the number ¡°-78¡± appeared on the wolf king¡¯s head.

    ¡°damn it!¡± lao yao cursed in his heart. he suppressed the excitement in his heart and focused again, recalling the feeling of the critical hit.

    lao yao¡¯s situation was a little like playing basketball. for a professional player, their years of experience with basketball allowed them to determine whether the ball could reach the basket the moment they shot. this was the so-called feeling.

    the two situations were very similar. lao yao originally had also considered the problem of the feeling. therefore, he repeatedly simulated the feeling of a critical hit in his mind to increase his feeling. when he was familiar with it enough, he could be like a professional player and increase his hit rate based on the feeling, greatly increasing the chance of a critical hit.

    fortunately, this was a smart chip processor designed by galaxy international, as well as virtual reality technology that was connected to the brainwave nerves. otherwise, it would be a waste of effort to do this in previous games.

    just as lao yao was secretly lamenting that he had wasted a good opportunity, he did not know that the players around him heaved a huge sigh of relief when he did not deal a critical hit this time. a few consecutive critical hits could be attributed to his good luck. such a situation could happen. however, if he dealt critical hits from the beginning to the end, the surrounding players would probably go to galaxy international to protest¡­

    ¡°again! continue to use shield bash!¡± lao yao shouted at bed 1 while dodging the wolf king¡¯s attack. at this moment, the surrounding warrior players also realized that because of their obstruction, lao yao could not use his full strength. due to the previous few shocking attacks, these warrior players actually moved aside, allowing lao yao to dodge even more effectively.

    ¡°brother expert! i can¡¯t!¡± bed 1 said with a long face, ¡°i¡¯m out of rage! and the cooldown time is one minute!¡±

    not only was lao yao¡¯s attack satisfying himself, but the players beside him were also very pleased. when this good comrade from bed 1 realized that he could not help brother lao yao create a shocking visual effect, he wished he could slap himself twice¡­

 Chapter 15

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    although he could take down the wolf king with the forehand sword, lao yao still felt a little regretful that he could not use the backhand sword to cause higher damage. deep down, he still preferred to end the battle in a gorgeous manner.

    at this moment, lao yao saw the other warrior players around him.

    his eyes lit up and he shouted to the surrounding players, ¡°everyone, help me! warriors, use shield bash one by one! we¡¯ll split the equipment dropped by the boss!¡±

    lao yao¡¯s words stunned all the players. there was such a good thing? was it true?

    after all, lao yao was not an experienced online gamer. he did not know much about the hidden rules. for things like fighting a boss, most people usually did not want others to interfere because if others interfered, it would mean that snatching monsters and pk might happen. this was the reason why many people occupied the monster. when he shouted this sentence, it was simply an unbelievable thing for other players.

    the surrounding players could also tell that even without their help, lao yao alone would be able to grind the wolf king to death. the only difference was the length of time. after all, the combined damage of a group of people was not as much as lao yao¡¯s. there was no way to pk in the novice village, so there was naturally no need to consider killing people and snatching treasures. therefore, just now, some players had already retreated. without enough damage output, even if they attacked, it would be a waste of effort. in the end, it was equivalent to helping others kill monsters for free.

    however, after hearing lao yao¡¯s words, the group of players immediately stopped in their tracks and looked at each other. finally, a player asked, ¡°is it true? are you really willing to share the equipment?¡±

    ¡°of course! if i say it¡¯s true, it¡¯s true!¡± seeing that others didn¡¯t believe him, lao yao was a little unhappy and couldn¡¯t help but curse.

    his vulgar tone was quite convincing. the surrounding players immediately chose to believe him. a warrior volunteered and said, ¡°i¡¯ll go first!¡± then, he hit the wolf king with his shield.

    taking advantage of the fact that the wolf king had fainted, lao yao swung his backhand sword. ¡°critical strike! -152!¡±

    ¡°i¡¯ll take it!¡± another warrior jumped out.

    ¡°i¡¯m third!¡± ¡°i¡¯m fourth!¡± ¡°i¡¯m fifth¡­¡±

    one by one, the warrior players continuously stunned the wolf king with shield bashes. although each attack only lasted for a short second, lao yao was able to seize the opportunity and decisively attack, causing high damage again and again.

    bed 1, who was at the side, was rather anxious. however, he did not dare to refute lao yao¡¯s suggestion. in his opinion, experts always had some temper. if he said something that he shouldn¡¯t have and lao yao left the team unhappily, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to get any benefits.

    moreover, there were so many players here helping lao yao. was there a need to be afraid that he would not be able to find a team? most likely, as long as lao yao said something, all the teams present would submit a team application to him¡­

    since there was no way to dissuade him, it was better to help obediently!

    hence, in the battlefield of the elite wolf king, an unbelievable scene appeared. a group of players who did not know each other actually cooperated spontaneously. the warrior players went forward one after another to use shield bash. when they ran out of rage, they would turn around and fight the surrounding wild wolves. as long as their rage was high enough, some would immediately run back. as for the wild wolves that had not been killed by them, other players would take over and kill them, preventing the monsters from chasing after them.

    although their coordination was still a little rusty, it had already become a spontaneous act¡­

    finally, after half an hour of fighting, the wolf king¡¯s 20,000 hp, which looked like a lot, was forcefully depleted by lao yao with the cooperation of the players. after letting out a heaven-shaking wail, it fell to the ground with a bang¡­

    in this short half an hour, the average critical hit rate was more than 70%! this made lao yao let out a low roar from his throat. this kind of satisfying battle was what he desired!

    the surrounding players looked at lao yao, who was still reminiscing about the previous battle, in awe. if he didn¡¯t say anything, no one would. the series of extremely high critical damage had already made them realize that an impressive figure had appeared in the novice village they were in¡­

    looking at the elite wolf king¡¯s corpse that was emitting a faint glow lying on the ground, lao yao knew that it was a signal that items had appeared.

    after working hard for so long, he didn¡¯t know what he could obtain. hence, lao yao bent down and started to search the corpse.

    what lao yao didn¡¯t know was that his actions had crossed the line. usually, in teams, regardless of whether it was clearing dungeons, killing wild monsters, looting corpses, or obtaining equipment, there would be special candidates to do it. this person was usually recognized as having better luck, commonly known as the ¡°red hand¡±. many teams used this method to ensure that the spoils of war wouldn¡¯t be too bad.

    however, the surrounding players did not have any objections to lao yao¡¯s actions. this wolf king was almost killed by lao yao alone. if he did not have the right to loot the corpse, who else would?

    fortunately, lao yao¡¯s luck wasn¡¯t too bad today. after looting the corpse, he finally understood why players were so passionate about fighting bosses.

    there were a total of eight items!

    besides 12 silver coins and a production material ¡°sharp wolf fang¡±, the other six items were all equipment!

    after lao yao displayed all his equipment, the surrounding players gasped!

    blue equipment! blue equipment dropped in the novice village!

    among the six pieces of equipment, the best was the blue dagger. the rest were only green equipment. green equipment wasn¡¯t enough to surprise the players. after all, they could get one or two pieces of such equipment from the novice quests. however, the blue dagger surprised the players.

    equipment levels from low to high in the era of the gods were: white, green, blue, purple, and orange. it was definitely ecstatic to be able to get a mid to high-grade weapon in the novice village.

    the dagger¡¯s attributes were as follows:

    sharp wolf fang (blue one-handed dagger)

    level for use: 10

    spirit attribute: attack 35~55

    +5 strength

    +10 agility

    soul attribute: attack power +1

    the so-called spirit attribute and soul attribute were mainly to facilitate players to differentiate between high-quality weapons and low-quality weapons. spirit attribute usually referred to the attack power of the weapons, the defense of the equipment, and the additional attribute points. as for soul attribute, it was the additional attribute added to high-level equipment. these two attributes were not displayed in white and green equipment. only blue equipment would have this attribute.

    lao yao looked at this dagger and was also extremely envious. although he did not understand what was going on with that attack power +1, just looking at the basic spirit attributes was already enough to make lao yao exclaim.

    what he was holding now was only a weapon given to him as a newbie. a simple attack of 1 to 2 was enough. compared to the dagger in front of him, it was completely unbearable to look at. moreover, the blue dagger in front of him was a one-handed dagger. this meant that if he got another one-handed dagger, the attacks of the two daggers could be stacked!

    the group of players were in high spirits. they were actually able to witness the appearance of a blue weapon in the novice village. this was something worth bragging about. they were all looking at lao yao eagerly, waiting for him to fulfill his promise.

    ¡°cough cough!¡± lao yao¡¯s face turned red from their stares. he coughed twice and said, ¡°this, this dagger is mine. there are five pieces of equipment left. also, count the silver coins and materials as one piece of equipment. everyone, draw lots to decide who will own it!¡±

    the players did not have any objections to the distribution of lao yao. in fact, when they saw the blue dagger, they subconsciously thought that the dagger belonged to lao yao. after all, he had contributed the most to killing the boss and was an assassin. it was naturally justifiable for him to want the dagger.

    in addition, lao yao did not go back on his word. he really took out the equipment and distributed it. it was already very good for them to be able to obtain a piece of equipment with so little contribution.

    there were a total of seven teams present. basically, each team could obtain a green equipment, it would depend on who was unlucky enough to get the silver coins and materials.

    however, during the drawing of lots, the warrior on bed 1 actually took the initiative to choose the silver coins, which meant that the other player teams all obtained equipment.

    lao yao asked him in surprise, ¡°why did you choose the money? isn¡¯t it good to be able to draw equipment?¡±

    bed 1 shook his head and said, ¡°brother lao yao, when i added you into the team, i already said that you have the priority to choose the equipment. you¡¯ve already taken that blue weapon. how can we have the cheek to take the equipment!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right, that¡¯s right!¡± a few members in the team also nodded.

    lao yao was stunned for a moment before smiling. he reached out and patted bed 1¡¯s shoulder. ¡°hehe, what a good man!¡±

    after receiving lao yao¡¯s praise, bed 1 was so happy that he straightened his back. in his opinion, it was already a great honor to be admired by an expert.

    he said to lao yao in the team channel in a low voice, ¡°furthermore, brother lao yao, i understand what you¡¯re thinking. isn¡¯t distributing the equipment to these players for the purpose of stopping them from talking? why would i cause trouble for you at this juncture?¡±

    when lao yao heard that, he was stunned once again. he had never thought of what bed 1 had said. indeed, lao yao¡¯s performance just now was much better than that of too many people. the continuous critical hits would probably cause the gamers who saw it to have some thoughts. although he had a clear conscience, if these gamers went to the game company to complain and make a fuss, he would be very passive.

    previously, he had decided to share the equipment because he wanted to make his battle more comfortable. at that time, lao yao did not think too much about it. now that he was reminded by bed 1, lao yao really felt that he was at fault.

    these players had benefited from lao yao and owed him a favor. even if they had any thoughts, they wouldn¡¯t say too much.

 Chapter 16

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    bed 1 misunderstood what lao yao meant at that time. he thought that the reason why lao yao was so strong was because he had some game secrets and needed to keep them. therefore, he chose to cooperate with lao yao.

    although he might have the intention of currying favor with lao yao by doing this, it had to be admitted that lao yao really owed him a favor.

    lao yao smiled and said to bed 1, ¡°let¡¯s add each other as friends. if there¡¯s anything i can help with, just say it!¡±

    this group of university students were overjoyed. it was not easy to have an expert as their backer. hence, they hurriedly added lao yao as a friend.

    after that, the assassin in bed 2 mustered up his courage and said to lao yao, ¡°brother lao yao, can you show us the weapon you¡¯re using now? your attack is so high, so your weapon shouldn¡¯t be inferior to that blue dagger, right?¡±

    lao yao immediately broke into laughter and showed them the beginner¡¯s daggers with an attack of 1 to 2. he said, ¡°if you want them, i can say that i¡¯m giving them to you. however, you have to wait until i have a new weapon to change to!¡±

    when number 2 and the others saw this, they were instantly dumbfounded. this dagger was given to them when they were born. their attack power was extremely trashy. even number 2 was holding a white-grade dagger that he had obtained from a newbie mission. its attack was 4 to 5, which was even higher than lao yao¡¯s!

    at this moment, they finally understood that lao yao¡¯s strength had far exceeded their imagination.

    with a bitter smile, bed 1 said to lao yao, ¡°brother lao yao, i won¡¯t say anything else. you are an expert, a true expert!¡±

    lao yao did not refute him. he patted his shoulder and said, ¡°alright, the boss has been killed too. hurry up and level up. i won¡¯t join your team anymore!¡±

    bed 1 nodded and said, ¡°alright, brother lao yao, can i ask you for a favor?¡±

    ¡°go ahead!¡± lao yao nodded.

    ¡°when we reach level 9 in the game, we will receive a quest to leave the novice village,¡± bed 1 explained. ¡°it¡¯s said that it¡¯s a little difficult. if we can¡¯t pass it, can we ask you for help?¡±

    ¡°quest to leave the novice village?¡± lao yao asked curiously, ¡°how did you know? you¡¯re only level 7 now!¡±

    bed 1 looked at lao yao in surprise and said, ¡°according to the forum, some of the faster leveling players have already reached level 9. they received a mission but couldn¡¯t think of a way to complete it. they posted it on the forum. don¡¯t you read the forum?¡±

    ¡°well¡­ i¡¯ve never been on the forum before!¡± lao yao scratched his head awkwardly.

    ¡°¡­¡± bed 1 was a little speechless. were all experts like this?

    at this moment, a system notification came from lao yao¡¯s helmet, informing him that he had used up all his game time today. hence, lao yao said to them, ¡°i¡¯m going offline. as for the mission you mentioned, just contact me when the time comes. i¡¯ll try to see if i can help you pass it.¡±

    seeing that lao yao had agreed, they were naturally overjoyed. they said goodbye to lao yao and watched as he went offline before they continued to level up.

    after going offline, lao yao lay on the bed and did not take off his helmet. he carefully recalled the feeling of critical hits during the boss battle. then, he helplessly realized that he had unknowingly started to become addicted to this game.

    shaking his head in amusement, lao yao connected his helmet to the internet and planned to take a look at the game forum.

    currently, the official forum was in an uproar. a large number of posts were made, but they were quickly drowned out by other posts. lao yao casually clicked on a few posts. after reading some players complaining about the difficulty of leveling up, and that the requirement for experience was too high, and equipment was difficult to fight, and so on, lao yao focused his attention on the few posts that were pinned at the top.

    here, lao yao saw the level 9 quest that bed 1 mentioned. the post was made by a level 9 player with a full exp bar. it was quite popular, so it was pinned at the top.

    in the post, the player explained the process of the quest in detail. this quest was received from the village chief. it required at most three people to complete a newbie dungeon. the first part was relatively simple, but the final boss was quite disgusting. when its hp was reduced by half, it would summon a wave of small monsters, but it would escape and hide at the side to recover its hp.

    this was the difficulty of the dungeon. there were not many people in a party of three. once they were surrounded by the summoned monsters, they would not be able to split up to fight the boss. even if they cleared the monsters, the boss¡¯ hp would recover. when the boss¡¯ hp was reduced to half, it would repeat the previous actions.

    the player described the boss as disgusting as a fly. in the early stages, most players¡¯ equipment could not keep up. such a boss made people feel that there was no solution. the player analyzed that unless a powerful dps focused firepower to kill the boss, there was no way to clear this quest.

    under this post, countless players posted replies. some tried to analyze tactics, while others posted for fun. in any case, it was the same as when the forum first appeared decades ago. there were all kinds of comments. it was very lively.

    lao yao closed the post. after looking at the mission process, he roughly calculated. if it was him, it would not be difficult to complete this mission. when the time came, he might have to help bed 1 and the others.

    then, lao yao saw another post that was pinned at the top. the name of this post was ¡°the novice village¡¯s number one divine artifact appears in the world!¡±

    lao yao was shocked by the title of this post and hurriedly clicked on it. he realized that the post was made five minutes ago. in such a short period of time, it had actually reached more than 400,000 clicks!

    however, when he saw the picture posted by the owner of the thread, lao yao was instantly amused. wasn¡¯t this the blue dagger that he had just obtained?

    this was indeed the case. lao yao clearly remembered the attributes of the ¡°sharp wolf fang¡± dagger. it seemed like a certain player who had cooperated with lao yao to fight the boss had sent a screenshot.

    after reading the entire article, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but admire it. things were really as bed 1 had said. the owner of this post only proudly boasted that he had witnessed the birth of the blue weapon and said that lao yao was a mysterious expert. as for the powerful critical hit rate of lao yao, he didn¡¯t mention it.

    indeed! humans¡¯ thoughts were really unpredictable! lao yao was sure that if he had left with all his equipment back then, the poster¡¯s tone would not be smug. instead, it would be jealous or angry¡­

    the popularity of the post was no less than that of the level 9 mission. countless people questioned it.

    ¡°it can¡¯t be true, right? can blue equipment drop in the novice village?¡±

    ¡°fake picture! appraisal complete!¡±

    ¡°previous poster, f*ck off! you¡¯re always talking about fake picture! do you know what fake picture is?¡±

    ¡°if this weapon is real, how much can it be sold for?¡±

    ¡°at least 2,000! although it¡¯s only a level 10 weapon, it¡¯s a one-handed dagger, and it even adds attack power! it¡¯s definitely worth this price!¡±

    ¡°f*ck! what 2,000?! let me tell you, that¡¯s the starting price! if you ask me, it¡¯s at least 5,000! there¡¯s no bargaining! you have to think about the importance of this weapon! if you have such a weapon in the early stages, how many dungeons can you successfully clear? this is the lifeblood of the subsequent equipment!¡±

    ¡°i¡¯ll pay a lot of money for the weapon in the picture! name your price! add my qq¡­¡±

    lao yao finally experienced it this time. he really did not expect that the value of the dagger in his hand would actually exceed his imagination. what was wrong with the rich people in this world nowadays? they were willing to spend so much money for equipment in a game?

    although lao yao lived in a luxurious villa worth 30 million yuan and was also the landlord, he was not really a rich person at the end of the day. he still did not understand the psychology of rich people.

    what was money? money was nothing! using a bunch of nothing to exchange for the majesty in the game and the worship of countless people was definitely worth it in the eyes of the rich.

    the environment they were in was different, so their values were naturally different¡­

    lao yao sighed and shook his head. he closed the forum, got up, took off his helmet, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, intending to stretch his muscles and bones. however, he saw the girls from silver maple leaf studio in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. they were wearing bath towels and their hair was wet. they walked towards the villa from the pool.

    the hazy light of the night reflected a gentle light on their delicate skins. they were twelve sexy goddesses who had come out of the bath!

    lao yao just stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and watched in a daze. it was only when the goddesses walked into the villa and he could not see them that he thumped his chest and stomped his feet, crying out that he had miscalculated.

    what the f*ck! they actually went swimming while i was playing games?! i actually missed such a good opportunity to peep?!

    that night, lao yao couldn¡¯t sleep. he tossed and turned on the bed. the scene of his battle with the wolf king and the blue wolf fang dagger flashed through his mind, but the beautiful scene of the girls coming out of the bath also flashed through his mind.

    he kept thinking about one question. did he win or lose?

 Chapter 17

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    early the next morning, lao yao woke up with panda eyes. although he did not sleep well, his habit of getting up early over the years made it impossible for him to sleep anymore. he got up, put on his clothes, went to the bathroom to wash up, and then left the room to go downstairs.

    in the garden, breathing in the fresh air, lao yao began his routine training.

    after lao yao finished 200 one-handed push-ups and returned to the living room drenched in sweat, he saw a group of girls yawning as they walked out of the room.

    the only exception was didi. this young lady had always woken up very early. she was in charge of everyone¡¯s meals and it was rather tiring. however, looking at her smiling face, lao yao also understood that this young lady actually liked to cook more than she liked to play games.

    this was the tragedy of being a professional gamer. when you treated games that were originally used for leisure and entertainment as a profession, you would lose a lot of things.

    ¡°hey! uncle! you woke up early?¡± ning jing rubbed her eyes and greeted lao yao. her long hair was a little messy because she had just woken up and had not taken care of it. she sat down at the dining table and waited for didi¡¯s breakfast to be served.

    ¡°stop sleeping in!¡± lao yao started to retaliate against her calling him uncle. ¡°be careful not to sleep into a pig!¡±

    ¡°tsk! you don¡¯t understand this!¡± ning jing rolled her eyes at lao yao. ¡°lack of sleep is a big enemy of girls¡¯ beauty! if you ask me, i¡¯m really willing to be a piglet as long as this piglet looks beautiful!¡±

    lao yao choked on ning jing¡¯s words. he couldn¡¯t say anything and couldn¡¯t refute it at all¡­

    ¡°time for breakfast!¡± didi and the other two girls brought out breakfast from the kitchen. in front of each of them was a bowl of bean porridge, two fried dough sticks, and a cup of soy milk.

    as they ate breakfast, yang yongle asked lao yao, ¡°did you rush back to your room last night to play the game? what level are you at?¡±

    ¡°level 6!¡± lao yao answered yang yongle clearly. when he went offline yesterday, he specially took a look. he had killed the elite wolf king. the high experience points allowed him to level up immediately.

    ¡°not bad!¡± yang yongle nodded and said, ¡°but we still have to hurry up. the earlier the game, the harder it is to widen the gap. do you know? there are already people who have reached level 9 and are doing quests to leave the novice village!¡±

    ¡°i know that!¡± lao yao nodded and said, ¡°in another day, we¡¯ll be able to complete this mission.¡±

    ¡°i heard that the mission is a little difficult!¡± ning jing interrupted. ¡°by the way! did you see the blue dagger posted on the forum yesterday? if you can get that dagger, it should be easy to pass this mission!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right, that¡¯s right!¡± the other girls nodded. ¡°i didn¡¯t expect a blue weapon to appear so quickly. it¡¯s really surprising!¡±

    wang ke, who was quietly eating her breakfast at the side, suddenly said, ¡°it¡¯s useless. that weapon requirement is level 10. no one can use it to complete the mission.¡±

    this was the first time lao yao had heard wang ke speak in front of him. he was instantly shocked. wang ke¡¯s voice had a unique vibrato that sounded like a silver bell. it was crisp and pleasant to the ear. coupled with the girl¡¯s gentle voice, it sounded so pleasant when combined.

    ¡°sigh, that¡¯s right! what a pity. that weapon is very awesome! not only is it so powerful, but it also increases attack power!¡± ning jing sighed and suddenly hugged wang ke¡¯s shoulder. ¡°if you can get it at level 9, i¡¯ll get the landlord to buy it and mail it to you! you¡¯re an assassin. when the time comes, you¡¯ll be the first to walk out of the novice village!¡±

    after saying that, she even winked at lao yao¡­

    upon hearing ning jing¡¯s words, the group of girls immediately laughed and looked at lao yao as if they were looking at a fat sheep. this made lao yao depressed! was there a need to buy it? wasn¡¯t the dagger in his hand? if she wanted it, she could just take it.

    at the thought of this, lao yao suddenly asked yang yongle, ¡°by the way, what¡¯s with this attack power? i heard you guys say that it¡¯s very awesome?¡±

    yang yongle knew that this was the first time lao yao had come into contact with online games, so he did not know much about terms. hence, she explained, ¡°the so-called attack power is used in many games. actually, it has two functions. the first is to magnify the final damage. in other words, if the damage dealt to monsters is originally 100, and you have 1 attack power, this damage will be magnified by 1%. the final damage dealt to monsters will become 101!¡±

    ¡°ah? so that¡¯s how it is?¡± lao yao suddenly understood. no wonder when he was killing the monsters, he always felt that there was something wrong with the maximum damage he had calculated. there was a difference between theory and reality. so that was how it was. in terms of his attributes, his current attack power was 1.2. therefore, the damage dealt by the monsters he attacked should be multiplied by 1.2% from the original!

    this attack power was indeed a good attribute! now that his attack was still relatively low, the effect could not be displayed very well. however, if the attack power increased in the future, the effect would be more obvious. after all, this was an attribute that directly increased damage.

    after seeing that lao yao understood what he meant, yang yongle continued, ¡°the second effect of attack power is the effect of breaking through defense. corresponding to attack power, there is also an attribute of defense power. this attribute usually only appears on defensive equipment. with the same attack, if your attack power is greater than the other party¡¯s defense power, the damage will increase and vice versa. this increase is calculated in the form of percentage.¡±

    ¡°eh? why does the last part sound a little similar to the first point? it¡¯s all about increasing damage!¡± lao yao asked curiously.

    ¡°that¡¯s right!¡± yang yongle nodded and said, ¡°but there are actually differences. this is mainly because there are differences in the computing method. you know that programmers will use damage formulas when calculating the damage. although i don¡¯t know much about this kind of mathematics, the formulas used for these two functions are definitely different. the damage effect is also different.¡±

    ¡°understood!¡± lao yao snapped his fingers. ¡°in short, i only need to know that attack power is a good thing, right?¡±

    ¡°pfft!¡± yang yongle was amused by lao yao. it seemed like lao yao was really a straightforward person. if he didn¡¯t understand something, he wouldn¡¯t delve into it. as long as he understood how to use it, it would be fine. simple and direct, that¡¯s people like him, right?

    ¡°aiya! as expected, this dagger is good stuff!¡± lao yao placed his hands behind his head and sighed. ¡°it¡¯s a pity that i can¡¯t get it now. i have to wait until i reach level 10!¡±

    ning jing and lao yao were like enemies. when she heard lao yao¡¯s tone, she couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°what¡¯s the use of thinking about it? that dagger isn¡¯t yours. what does it have to do with you? why are you worrying about it?¡±

    what the f*ck! lao yao was depressed. why was this little girl always finding trouble with him? it was fine if she called him uncle, but why did she always find an opportunity to argue with him? what was going on?!

    hence, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but retort, ¡°who told you that the dagger isn¡¯t mine?¡±

    the moment he said this, the group of girls stopped chatting and stared blankly at lao yao.

    ¡°hey¡­ hey! uncle!¡± ning jing was stunned for a moment before pointing at lao yao in disbelief. ¡°you¡­ you¡­¡±

    lao yao puffed up his chest and snorted. the little girl¡¯s surprised look made him feel proud.

    in the end, ning jing¡¯s last sentence almost made lao yao fall off his chair.

    ¡°uncle! could it be that you were the one who made a post asking for the dagger at a high price yesterday?!¡± ning jing looked at lao yao as if he was an upstart¡­

    lao yao¡¯s vision blurred and he fainted! did this little girl think that he had bought the dagger?!

    ¡°pfft, pfft, pfft, what are you talking about!¡± lao yao glared at her and said, ¡°don¡¯t you know that i¡¯m very poor? why would i invest money into the game? i killed the wolf king boss, okay?¡±

    ¡°ah!!!¡± the group of girls immediately cried out in surprise.

    ning jing¡¯s adoring gaze that lao yao expected did not appear. instead, she ran over and pulled lao yao¡¯s arm. with a voice that made lao yao¡¯s skin crawl, she said sweetly, ¡°uncle landlord, can i discuss something with you?¡±

    lao yao shuddered and hurriedly slapped away ning jing¡¯s hand on his arm. he said warily, ¡°you have to tell me what it is first!¡±

    ¡°sell your dagger and we¡¯ll split the money, okay? i saw a beautiful purse a few days ago. i want it so badly, but i don¡¯t have the money¡­¡±

    ning jing looked at lao yao pitifully with her big, blinking, watery eyes¡­

 Chapter 18

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    just as lao yao and the others were about to enter the game after breakfast, a video conference was about to begin in the galaxy international headquarters.

    in the empty conference room, the host had yet to arrive, but the people participating in the meeting had already connected early. dozens of virtual images floated in the air. if someone barged into the conference room at this moment, he would be surprised to find that the participants were all political figures who frequently appeared in the media of various countries! then, if they barged in, they would probably be arrested immediately and sentenced to death for ¡°endangering the safety of earth¡±¡­

    this was a top-secret meeting. the participants were the current presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state of all the major developed and developing countries in the world! it was no less than a summit discussion!

    at this moment, the leaders of the various countries had no intention of talking. they silently waited for the host of the meeting to appear.

    not long after, a thin and steady figure appeared in the meeting room. he was alone.

    ¡°everyone! although i¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s day or night in the country you¡¯re in, as it¡¯s still early in the morning here, i can only say good morning to everyone!¡±

    this was a middle-aged man. facing so many heavyweights, he did not exchange too many pleasantries. then, he introduced himself. ¡°i¡¯m the current executive director of the galaxy financial group. my surname is lin!¡±

    after a slight bow, the middle-aged man surnamed lin began his presiding work. he smiled at the dozens of virtual images in front of him: ¡°i believe everyone has received the letter from our galaxy financial group?¡±

    ¡°we came here to participate in this meeting to confirm something!¡± a virtual figure said. ¡°we just want to know if what you said in the letter is true!¡±

    this sentence hit the nail on the head, causing the other participants in the meeting to nod.

    director lin smiled. ¡°i can say it responsibly! this matter is definitely true!¡±

    he ignored everyone¡¯s reactions and opened an astronomical image through the virtual image, showing it to everyone.

    it was a blue planet!

    ¡°planet: pioneer!¡± director lin pointed at the planet with a long pointer and said, ¡°this is a planet discovered by the galaxy financial group in the andromeda constellation! it¡¯s 152 light years away from earth and is temporarily named pioneer! it can be said that this is the first human-friendly planet in the milky way galaxy that we have ever discovered!¡±

    these words caused an uproar among the participants. although they knew that the galaxy financial group was powerful, they really did not expect its interstellar navigation ability to have been explored so far!

    one had to know that even the m nation, which had the earliest research on space navigation, was only about 80 light years away from earth. now, the galaxy financial group actually said that they had already reached 152 light years away. this undoubtedly made the president of the m nation feel ashamed¡­

    ¡°cough cough!¡± director lin coughed a few times to attract everyone¡¯s attention before continuing, ¡°everyone, to be honest, even i, as the executive director, am very curious about the true strength of the financial group. however, this is not the main topic of our meeting today. the financial group entrusted me to hold this meeting to reach a consensus with the various countries!¡±

    ¡°what consensus?¡± someone asked, echoing his words.

    ¡°the consensus to run the era of the gods in all the countries in the world!¡± director lin threw out the topic of the meeting with a smile.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on? it¡¯s just a game. how can it be related to this?¡± everyone looked at him in confusion.

    ¡°of course it¡¯s related!¡± director lin then opened a data table and explained, ¡°everyone! this is a report on the number of online users of the game ¡®era of the gods¡¯ that has been operating for twelve hours yesterday! from the table, it can be seen that during the peak period, the highest number of online users was 200 million! this is only calculated based on the countries that established the operating company. there are only more than ten countries!¡±

    everyone knew that he had not finished speaking, so they chose to listen quietly.

    ¡°all of you are leaders of your respective countries. you should know very well that technology has contributed greatly to the development of our society today! however, you should also understand that with the continuous development of technology, not only will it bring about productivity, but it will also bring about social conflict! and the most acute problem is the unemployment problem!¡±

    director lin opened another set of data and explained, ¡°this is the annual unemployment rate table from 2010 until last year! this eye-catching red line is constantly reminding us that the unemployment rate has increased to a level that can¡¯t be ignored!¡±

    ¡°although the discovery of the planet pioneer has given us an opportunity to develop, what i want to tell everyone here is that we need time!¡± director lin said with a serious expression, ¡°although the climate of this planet is very similar to earth, i forgot to tell everyone that this similarity refers to the similarity to earth¡¯s ice age! the temperature there is below -20 degrees celsius all year round! even if we want to migrate, we have to gather the strength of all countries to modify it! and this modification will take at least ten years! and what we lack the most is time!¡±

    ¡°according to our galaxy financial group¡¯s estimation, in the next ten years, the global unemployed population will reach a terrifying critical point! if we are not careful, it is very likely to cause a huge upheaval that will affect the entire world! at that time, what will follow will be a global war! i think that even with the power of the galaxy financial group and all the countries present, i¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to continue to develop the planet in such an upheaval, right?¡±

    hearing this, the participants also realized the seriousness of the matter. their expressions were solemn.

    ¡°time! we need time!¡± director lin said excitedly. ¡°as long as we can hold on until the planet¡¯s development is completed, once the immigration work is carried out smoothly, these problems will be greatly alleviated, and the moment when humans go to the universe will also come!¡±

    ¡°pa!¡± director lin slammed his hands on the table, waking everyone up from their thoughts. he said excitedly to everyone, ¡°everyone! our galaxy financial group needs everyone¡¯s full support! the game ¡®era of the gods¡¯ was created by the galaxy financial group for the strategy of cosmic colonization! why was the artificial intelligence chip used in a game from the beginning? it¡¯s to ensure that the planet¡¯s development can proceed smoothly. moreover, the huge number of people online is enough to prove its success. as long as this game can attract many unemployed people and reduce those factors that might cause turmoil, we can buy ten years, or even the most abundant time! we need the support of various countries. only by attracting as much attention as possible can we ensure that we and the countries can secretly develop and modify the planet! everyone, please cooperate with the financial group to promote the operation of the game in their respective countries!¡±

    speaking of excitement, director lin actually bowed deeply to everyone in the virtual image and begged them.

    it had to be said that director lin¡¯s attitude made the leaders of the various countries feel a little better. after all, director lin represented the galaxy financial group. for him to make such a plea was equivalent to the galaxy financial group pleading with the various countries.

    since the galaxy financial group had lowered their stance and requested something that was beneficial to all countries, the leaders of the various countries finally nodded in agreement after discussing with their respective think tanks.

    at this point, the meeting was almost over. since the countries had reached a consensus, what was left was some practical things like the distribution of benefits. these needed to be secretly negotiated between the countries and the galaxy financial group.

    however, what was certain was that with the help of the national machines, galaxy international¡¯s era of the gods would become a game that would be popularized to all mankind¡­

    the meeting ended quietly. the gamers who were fighting in the game were still in the unknown. the essence of the game had changed. was the game still as simple as a game?

    our lao yao was also fighting hard in the game at this moment. he had already fallen in love with this game. perhaps he was still a little at a loss about what level he would reach in this game in the future. however, the current him was constantly exploring the joy brought by the game. as for what the future would be like? how many people would consider it?

 Chapter 19

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    agile light armor (green)

    level for use: 6

    physical defense +10

    agility +5

    health +50

    after going online, lao yao submitted the quest that he had received from the novice village. after collecting the wolf skins, he finally obtained the first piece of defensive equipment on his entire body. he did not expect his luck to be so good. this quest rewarded him with a random piece of green equipment. this time, he was actually randomly rewarded with a light armor that was specially used by assassins. furthermore, its attributes were not bad.

    in the game, warriors could only wear heavy armor, while assassins and hunters could only wear light armor and leather armor. as for mages and priests, they could only wear cloth armor. in terms of physical defense, mages and priests were the weakest. however, in order to make up for it, the magic defense of cloth armor was usually relatively high.

    after wearing this agile light armor, lao yao¡¯s anemic state improved. as for the exp gained from completing the mission, it was only 600 points. it was pitifully little. the exp required for lao yao to rise from level 6 to 7 was 12,100 points. killing a monster of the same level only gave him 50 to 60 exp. he had to kill almost 200 monsters to level up. the difficulty of leveling up was obvious.

    lao yao was slightly better off. after all, he had activated free mode and was able to rely on his past combat experience to calmly dodge the attacks of the monsters. he was also able to train alone. coupled with his extremely high critical hit rate, he was able to quickly obtain the experience of every monster. compared to other players who formed teams to level up equally, it was indeed much faster.

    the novice village was very lively now. the bustling players were moving through the novice village. some of them were looking for quests, some were replenishing potions, some were recruiting people to team up and kill monsters, and some were setting up stalls.

    lao yao was also a poor person now. he only had 2 silver coins in his bag from this mission. killing normal monsters in this game would not drop money. therefore, not only lao yao, almost all the players were very poor.

    out of curiosity, lao yao took a look at the items sold by the players who set up stalls. most of them were white equipment, but even such white equipment was sold for a high price of about 5 silver coins. occasionally, there would be one or two green equipment, and they were sold for a sky-high price of more than 20 silver coins.

    equipment was hard to drop, and money was hard to drop. in the early stages of a game like this, the price of goods was naturally much higher. in the regional channel of the novice village, there were also many people shouting to buy game coins, but they often could not get them at all.

    the random player distribution that lao yao had experienced when he entered the game had completely disrupted the original plans of some gold farming studios. there was no way to gather the advantage of the number of people to accumulate gold coins. naturally, no one would sell game coins on the market. therefore, in the purchasing information that lao yao saw, the ratio of gold coins to rmb had already reached an extremely high ratio of 1:20.

    ¡°yang yongle¡¯s foresight is very accurate!¡± lao yao pondered and said, ¡°this game is indeed profitable. let¡¯s see if we can seize the opportunity to earn money.¡±

    after thinking about it, lao yao decided to continue leveling up. this time, he planned to go to the place with the highest level of monsters in the novice village to level up. with the 50 hp bonus brought by the agile light armor, as long as he was not instantly killed by the monsters, lao yao¡¯s leveling plan could be guaranteed.

    however, just as lao yao was about to take a look at his attributes, he suddenly discovered a problem.

    character: lao yao

    profession: assassin

    level: 6

    strength: 25 (one point after leveling up)

    agility: 95 (bonus from level-up, free attribute points, equipment bonus)

    intelligence: 25 (one point after leveling up)

    attack: 77~144 (weapon attack: 1~2)

    attack power: 1.2

    defense: 19

    health: 250

    energy: 100/100

    critical hit rate: 5%

    the problem was about attack power. he remembered that when lao yao killed the wolf king at level 5, his damage was 70 to 114! now, he had only leveled up by one level. even if he wore equipment, he would only have 17 more agility than when he was at level 5. how could his damage be so much higher? most importantly, when he was at level 5, his attack power calculation was already wrong! it was just that he was thinking about killing the wolf king at that time and did not realize it.

    what was going on? lao yao scratched his head. he simply looked for yang yongle and asked her, ¡°how do you calculate the growth of assassins¡¯ attacks?¡±

    very quickly, yang yongle replied: ¡°1 agility adds 1 attack upper limit and 0.5 attack lower limit! aren¡¯t you an assassin? why are you asking me?¡±

    ¡°but¡­ my attack power increase doesn¡¯t seem right!¡± lao yao replied hesitantly.

    ¡°doesn¡¯t seem right? what¡¯s wrong? could it be that the attack power bonus has decreased? then quickly ask the customer service!¡± yang yongle said.

    it would have been better if it had decreased! lao yao rolled his eyes. if his attack had really decreased, he could justifiably find trouble with galaxy international. however, it seemed that its attack power had increased instead!

    could this be the legendary bug!?

    even if he hadn¡¯t eaten pork before, he had at least seen pigs run, right? lao yao knew these three english letters quite well. what he wasn¡¯t sure about now was whether he should ask the customer service. if there was really a bug in his character attributes, wouldn¡¯t he be walking into a trap by asking?

    with such a high attack, if it was really corrected as a bug, lao yao would probably be depressed to death. furthermore, some of the situations that appeared on his body, such as the free mode, as well as extremely high dodging and critical hit rates, all of these situations made lao yao break out in cold sweat the moment he thought of them!

    what the f*ck! if he were to report it and ask, would his account be blocked by the gaming company?!

    no! i can¡¯t ask the customer service even if i¡¯m beaten to death! lao yao, who had already fallen in love with this game, instantly made up his mind. furthermore, he also decided on his code of conduct in the game in the future. he had to keep a low profile! at the very least, he couldn¡¯t let too many people discover his uniqueness!

    with such a perturbed mood, lao yao arrived at the respawn point of the level 10 monsters in the novice village and began to farm monsters¡­

    what lao yao did not know was that there was no bug in the artificial intelligence chip that galaxy international used in the server. even if there was, it would be detected and corrected by the system immediately after it appeared. moreover, according to the system¡¯s definition, the moves, skills, and so on created by players by exploiting their potential were not within the scope of the bug. this game encouraged players¡¯ personal abilities. otherwise, it would not have done the attribute test when the player established the character.

    however, before he went offline yesterday, lao yao seemed to have overlooked something. at that time, he was immersed in comprehending the realm of critical hit at will. he seemed to have heard a system notification. however, he was crazily killing wild wolves and leveling up relatively quickly. hence, he selectively ignored that notification as a leveling up notification.

    if lao yao had checked the system¡¯s information record when he went offline yesterday, he probably wouldn¡¯t be so worried today.

    ¡°player lao yao¡¯s control over his own body has reached a peak. the system has now modified the reward for the player: the upper limit of attack power has been changed to 1.5, and the lower limit of attack power has been changed to 0.8. we hope that the player can continue to explore his own potential¡­¡±

    unfortunately, lao yao did not have the habit of checking the system¡¯s notifications when he went offline. such a system message naturally disappeared after lao yao went offline. this caused lao yao to have a lot of doubts about his attack power for a long time. only when he understood later did he beat his chest and scold himself. wasn¡¯t he worried for nothing for many days?¡­

 Chapter 20

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    from the moment he entered the game in the morning until around 5 p.m., lao yao finally reached level 9.

    the level 10 monster in the novice village, the giant bear, was a monster with a thick hide and 5,000 hp. there were not many players leveling up in this spawn point. however, to lao yao, it was a treasure land. the giant bear¡¯s attacks were slow and he could easily dodge them. although the giant bear had high hp and high defense, it was not a problem for lao yao, who had extremely high attack damage.

    although lao yao was still not able to achieve a 100% critical hit, as it was impossible for a person¡¯s attention to be constantly focused, with his hard work, he could achieve eight critical hits out of ten attacks. under the continuous and powerful attacks, the giant bears fell one after another, turning into lao yao¡¯s experience points.

    although lao yao had spent a lot of time on the free mode when he first entered the game, the high experience points gained from killing monsters above his level allowed lao yao to gradually reduce the gap between him and the other players.

    picking up a pair of white shoes dropped by the giant bear, lao yao looked at the time. it was almost time to eat. after thinking for a while, he sent a message to bed 1. ¡°what level are you guys at? i¡¯m going to accept the mission to leave the novice village!¡±

    bed 1 was very surprised and replied, ¡°we¡¯re already level 9! however, brother lao yao, isn¡¯t your leveling speed too shocking? i remember that when we formed a team, your level wasn¡¯t even higher than ours!¡±

    lao yao did not explain their doubts. instead, he said, ¡°make the best use of your time to level up. i¡¯m going offline to eat now. i¡¯ll come up in about an hour. if you guys reach level 9 and accomplish full experience, we¡¯ll do this mission together!¡±

    ¡°alright, alright! brother lao yao, we can just make some noodles in the dormitory and eat them!¡± bed 1 replied. ¡°by the time you come up, we¡¯ll be almost done!¡±

    ¡°alright, that¡¯s it then!¡± lao yao replied and went offline.

    while eating, yang yongle asked lao yao, ¡°have you resolved the abnormal attack power that you mentioned today?¡±

    after some deliberation, lao yao decided to tell yang yongle about the matter. after all, they were not like him and had more say in the game than him. it was better to listen to their opinions.

    hence, lao yao told yang yongle about how his attack power had increased.

    ¡°what?!¡± yang yongle and the girls in the studio were also shocked. ¡°you said your attack power is now 105-198?!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right!¡± lao yao nodded and said, ¡°i¡¯m level 9 now. with the additional equipment and free attribute points, i now have a total of 131 agility, but my attack power is much higher. you have to know that i¡¯m holding a beginner¡¯s white-grade dagger. it only deals 1 to 2 damage.¡±

    ¡°how is this possible!?¡± ning jing said to lao yao in disbelief, ¡°your attack is much higher than sister keke¡¯s!¡±

    even wang ke, who was also an assassin, looked at lao yao strangely.

    at this moment, the girl in charge of finance in the studio, jiang yu, also spoke. yang yongle had introduced her to lao yao before. this girl was more sensitive to numbers and was good at calculating. after hearing lao yao¡¯s words, she quickly calculated in her heart and said to everyone, ¡°this number can¡¯t be calculated unless it¡¯s calculated according to the upper limit of 1.5 times agility and the lower limit of 0.8 times agility!¡±

    after hearing this algorithm, the girls looked at each other. ¡°is this really a bug?¡±

    ¡°by the way, what race did you choose when you entered the game? what were your initial attribute points?¡± after thinking for a while, ning jing suddenly asked lao yao.

    ¡°the race is the shadow race. as for the attribute points, strength 20, agility 30, intelligence 20!¡± lao yao said, ¡°don¡¯t tell me you think it has something to do with the race i chose?¡±

    ¡°30?!¡± it would have been better if they hadn¡¯t asked, but after they asked, the girls almost screamed in shock. ¡°impossible!? isn¡¯t 20 points the full points?!¡±

    ¡°no! you have to tell me in detail!¡± ning jing and the rest of the girls stopped eating and moved their chairs to lao yao¡¯s side. they surrounded him and looked at him as if they were interrogating a criminal. ¡°tell me in detail! tell me from beginning to end!¡±

    such a huge scene made lao yao break out in cold sweat. the girls around him were all seated, and their fragrance lingered in his nose. it also made lao yao¡¯s mind go blank. he could only tell them about how he had established his character.

    of course, lao yao did not mention anything about the free mode. after all, something like the free mode, where one could control critical hits through one¡¯s own senses, was really a little shocking. lao yao chose to keep it a secret for the time being¡­

    ¡°perfect agility rating!? a privileged race!?¡±

    even so, after listening to lao yao¡¯s explanation, the group of girls were shocked. all of them looked at lao yao with a complicated expression.

    ¡°i really don¡¯t know what galaxy international is thinking by creating such a game setting¡­¡± although yang yongle was very happy in his heart, lao yao¡¯s powerful attributes also proved that his judgment back then was right. however, after hearing lao yao¡¯s description, he could not help but feel a little jealous. ¡°people like you are completely destroying the balance in the game!¡±

 Chapter 21

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°sister lele! it¡¯s not right for you to think that way! i don¡¯t believe that the landlord is the only strong player among so many players, right? other strong players can use this advantage, so why can¡¯t the uncle have such treatment? besides, isn¡¯t he a member of our studio now? if he becomes stronger, it will be beneficial to our studio!¡±

    with ning jing¡¯s carefree personality, she was the first to get over it. she actually spoke up for lao yao for the first time. this made lao yao sigh with emotion. of course, if she didn¡¯t call him uncle, lao yao would be even more grateful to him.

    ¡°that¡¯s not what i meant!¡± yang yongle laughed. ¡°what i meant was that this matter is too eye-catching. it¡¯s better not to let others know about it. after all, there are all kinds of people in this world. if these people use this as an excuse to report to the game company, lao yao will be very passive. therefore, it¡¯s best to keep a low profile.¡±

    ¡°sigh! that¡¯s right! what a pity!¡± ning jing also sighed. ¡°what a bummer. otherwise, uncle could have brought people to complete the novice dungeon mission. not many people have completed the novice dungeon mission. there are at least 5,000 people in a novice village. that¡¯s a lot of money!¡±

    lao yao¡¯s heart skipped a beat. that¡¯s right. although he had yet to complete the novice dungeon mission, with his current high damage, it would still be very easy for him to clear it. if he were to charge a fee to help others pass the mission, wouldn¡¯t he be able to obtain the first bucket of gold?

    however, he had to think of a way to hide his powerful damage. he had to consider this first¡­

    ¡°alright, uncle! our studio will depend on you in the future!¡± ning jing patted lao yao¡¯s shoulder casually. ¡°you have to continue it!¡±

    lao yao laughed and couldn¡¯t help but tease her. ¡°in that case, you¡¯ve finally admitted that i can be considered an official studio member?¡±

    ¡°yes, i admit it!¡± ning jing said respectfully.

    ¡°in that case, does it mean that the benefits you promised back then can be fulfilled?¡± lao yao chuckled.

    ¡°benefits? what benefits?¡± ning jing was stunned for a moment before she suddenly reacted. wasn¡¯t the benefit that lao yao was talking about the matter of letting him swim in the pool with the girls?!

    the group of girls seemed to have recalled what lao yao meant and instantly blushed. ning jing flew into a rage out of humiliation and pinched lao yao¡¯s arm fiercely. ¡°do you want to die?! let me tell you! no way!¡±

    lao yao immediately fled¡­

    ¡°hmph! this damn bastard! his muscles are so hard¡­¡± seeing that lao yao had escaped back to his room, ning jing shook her hand. her fingers were hurting although she pinched someone else. she muttered gloomily. in the end, when yang yongle heard how she addressed lao yao, he also teased, ¡°damn bastard? why is this title so¡­ little jingjing, are you interested in our landlord?¡±

    ¡°tsk! how is that possible!¡± ning jing pursed her lips and said, ¡°that old pervert. i kindly admitted to letting him join our studio, but he actually wants¡­ benefits?! let him die!¡±

    after joking around for a while, the group of girls returned to their rooms and started playing. lao yao, who had left early, couldn¡¯t help but rub his chin and ponder after returning to his room. ¡°hmm¡­ that little girl ning jing is not bad. although she¡¯s a little hot-tempered, she actually spoke up for me today. it¡¯s very surprising! should i list her as a candidate for a landlady?¡­¡±

    every man should understand. they would always let their imaginations run wild in such a direction. although he had let the girls from silver maple leaf studio move in back then with the intention of helping them, he could not rule out the possibility that lao yao had subconsciously had that little thought¡­

    all in all, after getting along with them, lao yao was still very satisfied with his decision back then. the girls¡¯ personalities were quite good. furthermore, ever since they came, his three meals had finally returned to normal. under their guidance, he had finally found some fun in a game. these were all gratifying changes.

    after coming online, lao yao found out that it would take bed 1 and the others more than 10 minutes to reach the maximum level. he was in a good mood and made a rare ¡°great¡± decision. he planned to wait for them for a while. for lao yao, it was unprecedented for him to wait, especially for a group of men. therefore, he naturally accepted their gratitude with a clear conscience¡­

    ¡°esteemed player lao yao, although i¡¯m very happy that you¡¯ve reached the standard to walk out of the novice village, i have to tell you some unfortunate news. the path from the novice village to the outside world is blocked by a group of orc bandits. they¡¯re staying there and robbing everyone who wants to leave the village. i think that if you plan to walk out of the city, you have to kill these orcs¡­¡±

    it wasn¡¯t easy for bed 1 and the others to rush back after they had enough experience. after lao yao listened to the long-winded words of the village chief with them, he received this ¡°road to the outside world¡± mission.

    this dungeon mission was considered a small dungeon for players to practice. however, as only three people could enter at a time, lao yao could only bring bed 1 and a companion to complete the mission first.

 Chapter 22

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after teleporting to the dungeon through the village chief, lao yao began to size up the terrain. this was a curved road, but it was already blocked by several huge rocks. a rough-looking camp could be vaguely seen on the small hill on the right. it seemed that it was where the target orc bandits were.

    with the existence of a super dps like lao yao, clearing the orc bandits in the camp was much faster. these small monsters were not considered strong. in just 10 minutes, lao yao and the others faced the boss of this dungeon: orc bandit leader! this was a green-skinned orc with a muscular and strong body. however, it was indeed a little ugly to the aesthetic standards of humans.

    ¡°brother lao yao, it¡¯s this guy. when he¡¯s at half health, he¡¯ll summon two small monsters, and he¡¯ll run to the side to hide and recover his health. he¡¯s too shameless!¡± bed 1 said, ¡°how do you think we should fight?¡±

    ¡°are there only two small monsters?¡± lao yao asked.

    ¡°yes, just two!¡± bed 1 answered with certainty. ¡°but the number of times is unlimited. as long as his hp drops below half, he will summon monsters. the monsters don¡¯t have high attack, but they have a lot of hp. once he recovers more than half of his hp, he will run back¡­¡±

    this was practically an endless loop. if they could not jump out of this circle, this instance dungeon would indeed be very difficult.

    ¡°how about this!¡± lao yao thought for a moment and said, ¡°don¡¯t interfere first. i¡¯ll go up and give it a try.¡±

    ¡°will it work?¡± bed 1 said worriedly, ¡°brother lao yao, your defense is too low. i¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be able to withstand it. if you are surrounded by the small monsters, it will probably be dangerous.¡±

    ¡°no, i think you¡¯re thinking too much!¡± lao yao shook his head and said, ¡°even if the boss will summon countless monsters, i¡¯m thinking that if we don¡¯t bother about those two monsters, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to pass this mission.¡±

    ignore the small monsters? bed 1 and bed 2 looked at each other. how could he ignore them?

    before the two of them could understand what was going on, lao yao had already charged towards the orc bandit leader.

    ¡°roar!¡± after entering combat mode, the orc leader raised the mace in his hand and smashed it down at lao yao.

    lao yao took a step to the left and easily dodged the attack. he stabbed forward with the dagger in his left hand and activated the forehand sword.

    ¡°critical hit! -260!¡±

    after this attack, lao yao also saw clearly that the orc leader¡¯s hp was not high. it only had 15,000 hp. it was even lower than the elite wolf king¡¯s and its defense was not high. it was probably its shameless act of running away when it couldn¡¯t win and calling its underlings that made the players hate it a lot, right?

    the orc leader¡¯s attack seemed to be very powerful, but the huge mace also had its disadvantages. after lao yao got close, he had been sticking close to it. every time he dodged, he would counterattack. the more he fought, the more skilled he became. he fully displayed the upper limit of his attack power and the chance of a critical hit became extremely high. basically, it was very difficult to see damage that was not a critical hit.

    ¡°critical hit! -320!¡±

    after accumulating three combo points, lao yao used the ultimate skill. at this stage, the ultimate skill was the skill with the highest damage among lao yao¡¯s skills. the damage dealt to the orc leader also exceeded 300 points in one go!

    at this point, bed 1 and his companion finally understood that lao yao¡¯s critical hit did not happen continuously because of his good luck. he must have some kind of trick to do this. in their excitement, they did not have the time to marvel at lao yao¡¯s high damage. instead, they observed lao yao¡¯s actions intently, hoping to learn something from him.

    however, they might be disappointed. lao yao¡¯s dodging and attacking movements took several years. almost every time, it was an action formed from struggling on the brink of life and death. it was efficient and fatal. it was not something that ordinary people could learn with just a few glances, even if he had already activated free mode.

    it didn¡¯t take long for the orc leader¡¯s hp to drop by half. he suddenly roared, and the figures of two orc bandits gradually appeared beside him. the orc leader dragged his mace and began to run back.

    then, bed 1 and bed 2 saw an unbelievable scene.

    lao yao did not attack the small monsters summoned by the leader of the orcs. instead, he followed closely behind the leader of the orcs. the dagger in his hand continuously caused huge critical damage to his body. although the two small monsters were also chasing after lao yao, their attacks allowed lao yao to dodge them all.

    it was as if lao yao had eyes on his back¡­

    ¡°isn¡¯t this too awesome!?¡± the two people watching the battle rubbed their eyes and looked at each other.

    actually, it wasn¡¯t difficult to do this! the virtual reality of this game was rather well done. the two small monsters were also using heavy weapons like the mace. when they swung this weapon, it would produce a whistling sound. therefore, in the eyes of others, using the mace was a symbol of power. however, in the ears of lao yao, it sounded like a fool. it was undoubtedly telling him that the attack came from that side¡­

    the leader of the orcs cried out in pain from lao yao¡¯s attacks. however, this fellow did not turn around to attack lao yao. instead, he kept running forward. at this moment, lao yao¡¯s attacks became even easier. he only needed to pay attention to the low-frequency attacks of the two small monsters behind him. he just needed to keep waving his dagger to attack the leader of the orcs.

    40%! 30%! 20%! 10%!

    the overall hp ratio of the leader of the orcs was constantly decreasing. lao yao¡¯s attack was not to be trifled with. just as its hp fell to 10%, this fellow finally woke up and turned around to attack lao yao again, but it did not continue to summon the small monsters.

    this way, lao yao felt a little pressured. after all, the three monsters were all attacking him. he could not be careless at all. he could only attack the leader of the orcs when he was sure that he could dodge the attack. otherwise, lao yao would rather give up the opportunity to attack. the first thing he had to ensure was that he wouldn¡¯t die.

    bed 1 and bed 2 were a little anxious as they watched from the side. they wanted to help pull the monsters away, but because this was the moment when lao yao was testing his combat strength and he did not ask them for help, they could not rashly go forward. they could only watch anxiously from the side.

    the so-called pressure naturally varied in size. although the three monsters attacked together, this pressure was not insurmountable to lao yao. although the battle would drag on for a little longer, it still could not change the fate of the orc leader¡­

    after a scream, the orc leader¡¯s hp was finally emptied by lao yao. as it fell, the two monsters he summoned also disappeared.

    ¡°phew! i¡¯ve killed it!¡± lao yao let out a long breath and reached out to loot the orc leader¡¯s corpse.

    at the same time, bed 1 and his companion also received a system notification. ¡°you have obtained the head of the orc leader! mission: to the outside world, completed!¡±

    this¡­ this was really completed!?

    the two of them almost bit their tongues. such a newbie dungeon boss that stumped so many newbies was really defeated by brother lao yao alone!?

 Chapter 23

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    since this newbie dungeon was a mandatory one, it would not drop any equipment. only by handing the head of the orc bandit leader back to the village chief could he obtain the reward.

    the reward was naturally to raise one¡¯s level to level 10 and obtain the right to enter the city. however, if one chose not to hand over the quest item for the time being, they could enter the dungeon repeatedly. perhaps the officials also thought that this dungeon was relatively difficult and tacitly agreed to let players cooperate to pass the quest in this way.

    therefore, after lao yao left the dungeon, he was not in a hurry to submit the mission to level up. instead, he brought bed 1 and a few of his university classmates to clear the dungeon. this could be considered as fulfilling his promise.

    after bed 1¡¯s team had cleared the dungeon, lao yao said to bed 1, ¡°you guys turn in the mission first!¡±

    ¡°huh? brother lao yao, aren¡¯t you handing it over?¡± bed 1 asked curiously.

    ¡°yes, i plan to charge a fee and bring people to clear the dungeon in the novice village!¡± lao yao didn¡¯t hide it from him and said with a smile.

    ¡°sigh, indeed. only brother lao yao has the ability to clear the dungeon alone. this money is worth it!¡± bed 1 sighed. then, he discussed with his classmates and said to lao yao, ¡°how about this, brother lao yao? we won¡¯t be in a hurry to level up. we¡¯ll help you advertise in the novice village!¡±

    ¡°alright!¡± lao yao accepted their good intentions.

    hence, lao yao leisurely stayed beside the village chief. meanwhile, bed 1 and the others each found a spot in the novice village. they switched the game¡¯s voice channel to the regional channel and started shouting.

    ¡°a professional is to bring people to pass the novice dungeon quickly and painlessly! friends who need help, please contact assassin lao yao beside the village chief!¡±

    one had to say that bed 1¡¯s shouts were really useful. if lao yao was the only one shouting, he would probably be drowned out by the other people¡¯s messages. there were too many people using the regional channel in the novice village, and bed 1 and the others¡¯ names were quite neat. when they started shouting together, they instantly occupied a small screen, allowing the other players to see them clearly.

    in the novice village that lao yao was in, there were quite a number of people who had reached level 9 and had full experience. there were quite a lot of leveling madmen these days, so it was not strange. however, due to equipment and skills, there were not many people who could clear the dungeon. when they heard this shout, they immediately ran to the village chief¡¯s side to look for the man.

    lao yao adjusted the system settings at the right time and displayed the name above his head. as soon as the players arrived beside the village chief, they immediately found the right person.

    ¡°friend, are you bringing people to clear the dungeon?¡± someone asked lao yao.

    lao yao nodded. ¡°yes, but it¡¯s not us, but me alone! i can bring two people with me at once!¡±

    a player asked suspiciously, ¡°are you sure you can do it alone?¡±

    lao yao didn¡¯t defend himself but directly displayed the head of the orc bandit leader. this was the best proof.

    ¡°how much are you charging?¡± the players were no longer suspicious.

    ¡°10 silver coins per person!¡± lao yao said with a smile, ¡°no bargaining!¡±

    ¡°what the f*ck! so greedy!?¡± a group of players exclaimed. in order to prevent the players from farming money, it was very difficult for them to earn much money in the novice village. nowadays, players basically relied on doing missions to earn a few silver coins. lao yao alone took more than half of their wealth. no wonder they said that he was greedy¡­

    the price that lao yao offered was decided after much deliberation. although this price was a little high, it was not too ridiculous. therefore, he did not change his mind. this was because he knew that if he died in the novice dungeon, he would lose a certain amount of experience. if he wanted to accept another mission to enter the dungeon, he had to gain experience again. it was definitely a waste of time.

    who wouldn¡¯t want to leave the novice village as soon as possible? there wasn¡¯t much money here whether it was completing missions or killing monsters. it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that it was a remote village. lao yao had grasped the players¡¯ intention to leave as soon as possible and insisted on this price.

    ¡°it¡¯s too high. brother, i¡¯m a girl. take me through with a discount!¡±

    some female players started to use their killing moves on lao yao. in the end, lao yao rolled his eyes. what kind of joke was this? you¡¯re not my tenant. do i know you very well?

    to male players, lao yao was a shady person. even if he was facing female players, he still had to take a look at them, right? even if lao yao was a good person deep down, he had to understand if the other party really needed his help! therefore, lao yao¡¯s current attitude made the female players grit their teeth in hatred¡­

    in the end, seeing that there was really no way to lower the price, two players reluctantly paid.

    after accepting the money with a smile, lao yao grouped the two players who had suddenly become poor into the team. after letting them accept the mission, they were teleported into the dungeon together. when the other players saw that someone was testing the waters, they waited at the village chief¡¯s place to see if they could really go over.

    after entering the dungeon, the two players who had paid had just taken out their weapons and were about to kill the monsters together when lao yao instructed them, ¡°the two of you don¡¯t have to go through so much trouble. just wait at the intersection!¡±

    ¡°are you saying that you¡¯re going to kill them alone!?¡± the two players were shocked. they had thought that they would have to contribute after paying, but they did not expect lao yao to clear the dungeon alone.

    ¡°hey, don¡¯t. are you confident?¡± one of the players looked at lao yao suspiciously. ¡°if you die, what will happen to our dungeon?¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t worry!¡± lao yao took out a dagger and spun it in his hand. ¡°if i can¡¯t pass, i will compensate in double!¡±

    with that, he did not care about the expressions of the two players and ran towards the orc camp on the mountainside.

    actually, at the very beginning, the moment lao yao entered the dungeon, he realized that the terrain here was not bad. the camp was a distance away from the intersection. the situation of him fighting monsters in the camp would not be seen by others. this way, lao yao¡¯s money-making plan would naturally be implemented.

    the instance dungeon of the novice village this time was a rare opportunity. after entering the city, the advantages of large guilds or studios would gradually be displayed. it would be extremely difficult to have another chance to lead people through the instance dungeon like this.

    after killing his way into the camp with ease, lao yao once again performed the scene of one against three and easily killed the orc bandit leader.

    lao yao already had the quest item in his backpack, so he did not obtain it again. however, the two players who were waiting far away at the intersection received it. hearing the system notification, the two players were dumbfounded. the entire process only took ten minutes!?

    when the quest ended and they were automatically teleported out, the two players were still in a daze.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on? so fast? don¡¯t tell me they died?¡± the players waiting outside saw them reappear not long after they entered. those players were instantly filled with doubts.

    however, before they could finish discussing, the two players suddenly slapped their thighs and shouted, ¡°awesome! this money is worth it!¡± after saying that, they thanked lao yao and hurriedly ran to the village chief to submit the mission.

    when they saw the light of leveling up on the two players, the surrounding players realized that their dungeon quest had been passed!

    oh my god! how could it be so fast!? the players looked at each other.

    at this moment, lao yao smiled and started to call for the next round of customers. ¡°there¡¯s not much time left. players who want to complete the mission, please hurry up. i¡¯ve been online for almost ten hours!¡±

    actually, excluding the time for lunch, lao yao still had two hours to stay in the game today. using this phrase, it was just to show that resources were scarce.

    in the next second, lao yao was almost drowned by the surging crowd¡­

    ¡°me! me! brother, bring me through first!¡±

    ¡°quick! quick! this is the money for the mission. brother, take me in first!¡±

    the group of players had finally acknowledged lao yao¡¯s strength. they fought to be the first to request a trade with him. previously, they were still complaining that 10 silver coins was too expensive. now, looking at their expressions, if lao yao did not accept the money, they would have to be angry with him¡­

    ¡°don¡¯t be hasty, don¡¯t be hasty! ladies first!¡± lao yao said while sweating profusely. it would be troublesome even if the business was good. after shouting at the top of his lungs, lao yao and two female players traded first before bringing them in.

    the surrounding gamers were very depressed at lao yao¡¯s actions. previously, when the female gamers asked him to lower the price, he ignored them. now that a lady had come, what was going on?

    although lao yao pretended to be hypocritical, the female gamers were beaming with joy. human beings were really strange. previously, lao yao didn¡¯t lower the price of 10 silver coins, which made the female gamers grit their teeth in hatred. however, after he displayed his powerful strength, although it was the same price, they didn¡¯t find it expensive at all. instead, they were very satisfied with lao yao¡¯s favor¡­

    just like that, lao yao used the same method to lead wave after wave of players to pass the novice dungeon mission. he killed so many orc leaders that his hands were aching from counting money. in the end, lao yao even felt that the ugly appearance of the orc leader had become so cute¡­

    although the players could not see how lao yao cleared the dungeon, it was indeed as advertised. it was fast, safe, and painless. therefore, the news spread like wildfire. gradually, the players in the novice village where lao yao was located all knew that a strong professional was bringing people to clear the novice dungeon mission. hence, they all came because of the reputation. when the system notified them that lao yao¡¯s online time was about to be up, there was still a large group of people behind him.

    ¡°everyone, listen to me!¡± lao yao had no choice but to roar. ¡°it¡¯s almost time for me to go offline. let¡¯s continue tomorrow!¡±

    then, he ignored the players¡¯ reactions and went offline, causing the players to be extremely vexed.

    after lao yao took off his helmet, he was so happy that he laughed out loud. it had only been two hours and he already had more than two gold coins in his pocket. although it was not a lot, it could be of great use in the early stages of the game. putting everything else aside, just the learning and upgrading of skills after entering the city at level 10 was a huge expense!

    ¡°i¡¯ve earned money, i¡¯ve earned money. i have a motorola in my left hand and a nokia in my right hand¡­¡± lao yao used a strange tone as he hummed a tune that had been passed down from an unknown era. he ran into the bathroom to wash up¡­

 Chapter 24

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    the next day, when he went online, lao yao received a message from bed 1 saying that they were going to rongjue city, a main city, first. he said that if lao yao went too, he would message them.

    lao yao smiled and shook his head. there were also many main cities in the game. after all, there were too many players. it was not realistic to place them in one city. therefore, the game created several main cities. after players left the novice village, they could freely choose their destination.

    meanwhile, lao yao had already discussed with the girls from silver maple leaf studio. when the time came, they would go to the main city: van tarost. although this was a westernized city name, it did not prevent players from gathering spontaneously. yang yongle said that many players in s city had chosen this city. that was why they planned to move the studio over so that it would be easier for them to do business. therefore, for the time being, lao yao and bed 1 would not be able to meet.

    lao yao had spent all 10 hours online today to bring people to clear the dungeon. basically, he could earn 20 silver coins every 10 minutes. and 6 rounds per hour was almost one and a half gold coins. this was simply like stealing money. after the 10 hours online ended, lao yao¡¯s pocket had actually reached a huge sum of 18 gold coins!

    at this stage, 18 gold coins was already an incredible amount of wealth. it wasn¡¯t that lao yao didn¡¯t want to level up, but he wanted to take advantage of this stage to earn some money first. after all, leveling up wasn¡¯t something that could be left much behind even in a day. however, once he left the village, he wouldn¡¯t be able to make money so quickly anymore¡­

    during lunch, yang yongle also said that almost all the girls in their studio had reached level 10 and had gone to the main city. now, they were just waiting for lao yao.

    hence, before lao yao went offline, he submitted the mission and successfully reached level 10.

    after handing in the mission, the village chief said to lao yao, ¡°honorable lao yao, you have successfully passed the test and can enter the wider world for training. please remember my words carefully because this will affect your future development.¡±

    after hearing the village chief¡¯s words, lao yao perked up and listened. after all, there were still some details that needed to be paid attention to in the mission.

    ¡°when you reach the city, the first thing you have to do is to find your professional mentor. at his place, you can upgrade your original skills and learn new skills. moreover, you can also activate the talent system. this will be very helpful to you in the future.¡±

    ¡°in addition, you need to find your race¡¯s envoy. you can receive the main storyline mission from him. after completing the main storyline mission, there will be a large number of rewards waiting for you¡­¡±

    after listening to the village chief¡¯s ramblings, lao yao finally teleported out of the novice village and entered the agreed-upon main city, van tarost!

    when lao yao saw this main city, he could not help but be stunned for a moment. although there were already people on the forum who claimed that the main cities of ¡°era of the gods¡± were designed perfectly, if he did not see it with his own eyes, he would not understand the adjectives in the post.

    according to the official introduction, van tarost was a main city built by the dark elves. the first thing lao yao saw was a huge statue of the dark goddess. under the feet of the dark goddess was a huge black dragon. the size of this statue was unbelievably large, reaching more than 40 meters tall. even if you were outside the city, you could see her from afar. below the statue was a huge cone-shaped crystal that emitted a strange light. this was the elemental altar of the dark elves.

    the style of the surrounding buildings also inherited the style of the dark elves in western culture. most of the buildings were framed with strange patterns, and the streets were also paved with a kind of stone that emitted a faint black glow. in the official history introduction, this stone was called obsidian. it was said that the dark elves used this stone as a gemstone and successfully lured the dark dragons into the dark elves¡¯ encampment to settle down.

    groups of cold-blooded cavalrymen patrolled the streets. they were formed by the dark elves, and their faces were covered with blood-red masks. they rode ferocious giant lizards and killed all foreign hostile forces as well as those who violated the dark goddess¡¯ code. they were the city¡¯s law enforcers.

    as for lao yao, he also gave these cavalries his own understanding in his heart: western s city supervisors¡­

    this city revealed a very strange charm. the only regret was that among these westernized faces, there were a large number of eastern faces¡­

    it couldn¡¯t be helped. the people who entered this city were all chinese. you couldn¡¯t help but admire their adaptability. they had an unyielding tenacity in their bones. no matter how the environment changed, they could find a suitable way to survive. someone had once concluded that if the end of the world came, perhaps the chinese would be the ones who could survive the most.

    just like now, even in such a western environment, the gamers still used their own methods to present a unique oriental taste. the most obvious one was the stall-like market¡­

    ¡°come quickly! it¡¯s a newly-made green assassin weapon. it only costs 50 silver!¡±

    ¡°best discount! level 10 white equipment is all 20 silver! there aren¡¯t many of them. if you want to buy them, hurry up¡­¡±

    in the large plaza where lao yao was, countless players had set up stalls to sell their items. a lively market had already formed here, and the city channel was filled with the shouts of players. they were either seeking to form teams or collecting items. it was a prosperous scene.

    of course, there were also people who cursed after being pked. however, one had to patiently repeat such curses over and over again. otherwise, they would quickly be drowned out by the voices of others¡­

    in short, everything here made lao yao, who did not know much about online games, feel extremely curious. this was completely different from a novice village.

    most of the players in the novice village were focused on leveling up. even if they chatted, there were not as many people as in the main city. here, there were thousands of players who wanted to express their opinions at every moment.

    although lao yao was a little shut-in now, he still liked crowds deep down. he even regretted not coming to the main city earlier.

    he found yang yongle¡¯s id in his friend list. lao yao sent her an email and told her that he had entered the main city.

    soon, yang yongle wrote back and told him to wait at the elemental altar in the square. they would be back soon.

    not long after, yang yongle brought a group of girls over. at that time, because they were far away from the novice village, lao yao only added yang yongle as a friend. as for the other girls, lao yao did not add them for the time being. this time, yang yongle asked everyone to come back just to add lao yao as a friend.

    the 12 girls were neither too many nor too few. no matter what, when such a group of pure female players walked together, they would attract the attention of others. when other people saw that lao yao, a man, actually went forward to chat with these girls familiarly, lao yao¡¯s sharp senses told him that he had been targeted by the jealous gazes of dozens of people.

    tsk! bite me! lao yao was filled with disdain¡­

    the girls in silver maple leaf studio all used their own nicknames as game names. they just needed to add the name of the studio in front. for example, yang yongle was called maple leaf lele, meng di was called maple leaf didi, and ning jing was called maple leaf little jing.

    in lao yao¡¯s opinion, the names given by the girls were very simple and suited their personalities very well.

    ¡°aiyo, my great expert! you¡¯re finally here!¡± when ning jing saw lao yao, she pouted and complained. ¡°i¡¯m already level 12, but you¡¯ve only just left the novice village!?¡±

    yang yongle also asked lao yao curiously, ¡°couldn¡¯t you already come out long ago? why did you drag it out until now?¡±

    ning jing chose human warrior, while yang yongle chose human mage. due to the skill proficiency bonus, the human race practiced their skills faster. however, what lao yao paid attention to was not their profession, but the professional equipment they wore.

    ning jing¡¯s figure was as hot as her personality. although she was only wearing a plain warrior¡¯s armor, she looked valiant and extraordinary. yang yongle¡¯s magic robe revealed a solemn and generous feeling.

    the rest of the girls were the same. they were basically all wearing a full set of plain clothes. there were elegant ones, graceful ones, and charming ones! to be honest, the girls in the studio were not the kind of super beauties who could overturn cities with a smile. no matter how much they smiled, they could even be said to be a little ordinary. however, this did not stop them from showing themselves. just like what yang yongle had said back then, they had gathered together with the ideal of creating a new career. and with ideals, no matter how ordinary-looking they were, they could not hide their dazzling brilliance.

    seeing that the girls in the game had different charms due to their different attires, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but praise them in his heart. after hearing yang yongle¡¯s question, lao yao didn¡¯t say anything and smiled as he made a trade request to yang yongle.

    ¡°what?¡± yang yongle asked curiously and agreed.

    then, she looked at the huge sum of 12 gold coins that lao yao had transferred over!

    ¡°you¡­ where did you get so much money?!¡± yang yongle was shocked and couldn¡¯t help but exclaim¡­

 Chapter 25

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    when ning jing and the others heard the word ¡°money¡± in the conversation between yang yongle and lao yao, they naturally knew that lao yao had given yang yongle gold coins. however, because they could not see the transaction situation between the two of them, they did not know how much money they had.

    ¡°don¡¯t ask so much. i earned this.¡± lao yao smiled and said.

    yang yongle glanced at the transaction amount and gritted her teeth. after thinking for a while, she shook her head firmly and directly canceled the transaction.

    ¡°what¡¯s wrong?¡± lao yao looked at yang yongle in surprise. in his opinion, these girls were not as lucky as him, who was able to bring people to clear dungeons to earn money. although these 12 gold coins were not much, it was a huge capital in the early stages of the game. not to mention anything else, at least they could let the girls in the studio change into good equipment, increasing their leveling efficiency. this would be very beneficial to their future development.

    yang yongle looked at lao yao with a complicated expression and said, ¡°i appreciate your good intentions but i can¡¯t accept this sum of money.¡±

    this was for sure. in the early stages of the game, when there were still very few gold coins, the purchasing power of 12 gold coins was incredible. if lao yao took out the gold coins and sold them, there would definitely be people offering 1,000 yuan for them. although yang yongle kept bargaining with lao yao about the rent, that was normal business. now that lao yao gave her the equivalent of 1,000 yuan for no reason, she would not accept it no matter what.

    seeing yang yongle¡¯s determined expression, lao yao could only smile bitterly and keep the gold coins. he had originally wanted to help the girls in the studio out of goodwill, but it seemed like yang yongle¡¯s self-esteem was really strong. if he wanted to integrate into their studio, he still needed to continue working hard.

    ¡°sister lele! did he give you money? why didn¡¯t you accept it?¡± ning jing asked in a low voice, ¡°when we establish a family at level 15, we¡¯ll also need money. didn¡¯t you say that this pervert is already a member of the studio? it¡¯s normal to give you some membership fees.¡±

    ¡°you don¡¯t understand¡­¡± yang yongle smiled bitterly. she was sure that ning jing probably thought that the money that lao yao gave her was at most 1 or 2 gold coins. that was why she instigated her to accept it.

    ¡°since everyone is gathered together, let¡¯s go out of the city to level up!¡± yang yongle said to lao yao, ¡°how much time do you have left in the game?¡±

    ¡°there¡¯s still an hour!¡± lao yao replied.

    ¡°alright, we don¡¯t have to run too far!¡± yang yongle smiled and said, ¡°it¡¯s mainly to let you familiarize yourself with the coordination. after all, we haven¡¯t formed a team to train together before. we have to understand your leveling method and you have to understand ours. when we go online tomorrow, we¡¯ll directly go to a suitable place to level up.¡±

    ¡°oh, okay!¡± when lao yao heard what she said, he couldn¡¯t reject her. he could only temporarily put aside his plans to learn skills from the professional mentor and follow the group of girls out of the city.

    on the outskirts of van tarost city, there were several respawn points for level 11 monsters. although it was almost 10 p.m. in the real world, it was still daytime in the game, and there were quite a number of people leveling up. after searching for a long time, everyone barely found a place with few people and stopped.

    however, when it came to forming the teams, yang yongle was stumped.

    in the game, the maximum number of people per team was six. before lao yao entered the main city, yang yongle and the other 11 girls could form two teams. furthermore, they had already trained together for a day. now that lao yao had suddenly joined them, it was not easy to form a team.

    if they formed two parties, one of them would have to withdraw. if they formed three parties, there would only be three people in the third party. naturally, their leveling efficiency would not be the highest.

    the group of girls looked at each other and then looked at lao yao, the ¡°third wheel¡±, gloomily¡­

    lao yao also looked at the girls innocently. he had come out with them because he listened to yang yongle¡¯s opinion. basically, he would do whatever yang yongle said.

    ¡°what are you looking at!?¡± ning jing was very displeased with lao yao¡¯s gaze. ¡°you¡¯re a man. hurry up and think of a way!¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t ask me!¡± lao yao shrugged his shoulders. ¡°i¡¯ve never formed a full team before. i can¡¯t give any suggestions!¡±

    actually, lao yao also knew that in terms of leveling up efficiency, a full team was the best. however, the problem now was that it was not good to ask anyone to quit. lao yao was determined not to do such a thankless and offensive thing, especially when it was very likely to offend a group of girls¡­

    furthermore, lao yao also wanted to see if yang yongle, as the big sister and the nominal leader of the studio, had the ability to coordinate the team.

    this was a test of yang yongle¡¯s leadership skills.

    however, yang yongle¡¯s subsequent performance somewhat disappointed lao yao. she had been hesitating but was unable to make a decision. strictly speaking, yang yongle was actually not a qualified leader. she did not have the courage that a leader should have.

    perhaps if the girls weren¡¯t members of the studio and were just a group of ordinary players, yang yongle would have relied on her affinity to unite the girls around her. however, if the studio was really treated as their career, this kind of overly affinity and lack of decisiveness would become a big problem that restricted them.

    at this moment, lao yao finally understood why silver maple leaf studio had never been famous¡­

    in the end, it was meng di, the shy girl, who took the initiative to suggest it. ¡°sister lele, it¡¯s getting late. why don¡¯t i quit? i¡¯ll go offline and make you guys some night snacks!¡±

    although she was a little reluctant, yang yongle knew that this was the best solution. she could only hold meng di¡¯s hand and give her an apologetic smile.

    meng di did not mind. perhaps for a homely girl like her, playing games was not something she liked. she was more willing to take care of her sisters. therefore, she did not have any complaints about not being able to level up with everyone. she smiled and said goodbye to everyone before going offline.

    thus, silver maple leaf studio¡¯s two leveling teams were finally formed successfully¡­

    originally, before lao yao came, the girls from silver maple leaf studio formed a team like this: besides ning jing the warrior, wang ke the assassin, and yang yongle the mage, three of the other nine girls were priests, three were mages, and three were hunters. in total, they were one warrior, one assassin, four mages, three priests, and three hunters!

    the distribution of the members of the first team was: 1 warrior, 1 assassin, 1 mage, 2 priests, and 1 hunter. the combination was more reasonable. this was their main team.

    the second team was two hunters, three mages, and one priest. the main strategy was kiting. the damage output was quite high, and the leveling efficiency was not low.

    it could be seen from the professions chosen by the girls in the studio. after all, they did not have the concept of a professional studio. there were not many melee professions, and more than half of them were long-range professions. this could be said to be a common problem for female players, and the girls in silver maple leaf studio were no exception.

    however, yang yongle still had some brains. a group of people who were very ¡°biased¡± actually allowed her to find a reasonable distribution method and she even trained a group of girls to level up. it was a miracle¡­

    after lao yao joined the team, yang yongle adjusted the class combination. meng di, who went offline, was originally a mage from the second team. hence, she placed lao yao in the same team as ning jing and replaced wang ke. this meant that the first team did not change and the second team became 2 hunters, 2 mages, 1 assassin, and 1 priest.

    of course, this was only a temporary adjustment. the specifics would depend on lao yao¡¯s performance before he continued to make adjustments.

    although yang yongle was not decisive, that was only because of her character and limited vision. she was actually not stupid. yang yongle knew that lao yao¡¯s attack was high. therefore, her arrangement was to ensure the strength of the main team.

    yang yongle was also very satisfied with this combination. in her opinion, placing lao yao in the main team was not a waste of a powerful talent like lao yao.

    however, when it was time to level up, she realized that there was a huge deviation between her expectations and reality.

    the reason was that ning jing, who was in the main team, couldn¡¯t attract the aggro of the monsters at all¡­

    this was what happened. as lao yao had never stayed in a full team before, he humbly studied. he followed ning jing¡¯s request and attacked with the mages when ning jing was aggroing the monsters.

    however, the problem happened here. ning jing, this little girl, only asked lao yao to attack after taking away at least one-fifth of the monster¡¯s health. in ning jing¡¯s opinion, even if lao yao¡¯s attack was very high, this could ensure that the aggro would not be transferred.

    unfortunately, when lao yao attacked, his old habit kicked in. after subconsciously finding the feeling of a critical hit, he stabbed out with the forehand sword. after so many days of training, he had already formed a habit.

    ¡°critical hit! -502!¡±

    ning jing only felt the scene in front of her tremble. accompanied by the sound of a critical hit, a huge golden skill damage number floated out from the head of the level 11 parasitic demon in front of her.

    then, the parasitic demon immediately abandoned ning jing and turned around. it turned its big butt towards her and pounced towards lao yao without looking back¡­

 Chapter 26

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°ah?! what¡¯s going on?!¡± ning jing exclaimed. ¡°damn it! why are you stealing the aggro of monsters?!¡±

    lao yao felt wronged. do you think i want to snatch it? i only attacked once, alright?

    the cooperative plan was temporarily disrupted. lao yao could only dodge the parasitic demon¡¯s attacks and kill the monster with a few slashes.

    when he stopped, he realized that yang yongle, ning jing, and the other girls were looking at her in a daze.

    ¡°you¡­ you, you! how high is your attack!?¡± ning jing¡¯s finger that was pointing at lao yao began to tremble. ¡°also! what¡¯s your critical hit rate now!?¡±

    they couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. although it seemed easy for lao yao to kill this parasitic demon, it was because every slash was a critical hit. level 11 parasitic demons had 5,000 hp and 100 defense. in the end, lao yao dealt more than 500 damage with every slash, making the girls dumbfounded.

    lao yao looked at his attributes and gave an answer.

    character: lao yao

    profession: assassin

    level: 10

    strength: 34

    agility: 153

    intelligence: 29

    attack: 162~294

    attack power: 2.3

    physical defense: 23

    magic defense: 2

    health: 330

    energy: 100/100

    critical hit rate: 6%

    weapon in the right hand:

    sharp wolf fang (blue one-handed dagger)

    level for use: 10

    spirit attribute: attack 35~55

    +5 strength

    +10 agility

    soul attribute: attack power +1

    weapon in the left hand:

    military dagger (white one-handed dagger)

    attack: 5~10

    equipment:

    agile light armor (green)

    level for use: 6

    physical defense +10

    agility +5

    health +50

    worn boots (white)

    defense: 2

    this could be said to be lao yao¡¯s most comprehensive attributes. the one-handed dagger in his left hand was bought when he passed by a shop on the way out of the city. it was to match the wolf fang dagger that could be used at level 10. the damage was not high.

    in the end, this series of attributes shocked the girls.

    ¡°this¡­ this¡­¡± ning jing looked at lao yao¡¯s attributes and was speechless for a long time. wang ke, who was also an assassin in the studio, currently had about the same agility points as lao yao, but wang ke was now level 12! however, in terms of attack, she was still about 100 points lower than lao yao.

    in general, lao yao¡¯s damage was divided into three parts. one part was the upper limit of his attack. the second part was that he could freely control the damage output of critical hits. the last part was attributed to attack power. attack power of 2.3. in fact, lao yao¡¯s damage output should be (1+0.023) attack. the higher the basic damage, the higher the final value.

    based on the calculations of the three, lao yao¡¯s actual skill damage was around 600. it was naturally easy for him to deal with a level 11 monster that had low defense and low hp.

    ¡°no! no way!¡± ning jing said firmly. ¡°i can¡¯t attract the monsters at all when he has such high damage. i request you to adjust the team¡¯s class combination!¡±

    jiang yu, who was in charge of finance in the studio, immediately calculated in her mind and gave the data helplessly. ¡°that¡¯s impossible. unless jingjing learns the taunt skill, no one here can deal more damage than him, not even sister lele!¡±

    yang yongle was a mage who added all her points on intelligence. furthermore, she was a fire mage with the highest damage output. to monsters with low magic defense, she could deal about 300 points of damage at this stage. however, she could not keep up with lao yao¡¯s pace at all.

    moreover, so what if she could pull the aggro? was he going to let yang yongle, a weak mage, tank the monsters?

    just as everyone was feeling a headache, wang ke, who had been silent, asked lao yao, ¡°can you attract the monsters?¡±

    there was a hint of curiosity in wang ke¡¯s calm eyes. actually, she had already noticed that after lao yao lured the aggro of the parasitic demon over, although it seemed to have been easily dealt with, the parasitic demon still attacked lao yao twice during this period of time. in the end, it was dodged by lao yao without exception.

    note that it was a dodge, not a conventional ¡°miss¡±. this was because wang ke noticed that there were no symbols above lao yao¡¯s head indicating that he had been hit¡­

    how did he do it? wang ke was indeed a little curious. that was why she came up with the decision to let lao yao fight the monsters. she wanted to take a closer look.

    ¡°no problem!¡± lao yao did not reject wang ke¡¯s suggestion. he turned around and found a small monster before starting to attack.

    after seeing lao yao easily deal with the small monster again, the group of girls were all speechless. at this moment, they could also tell that lao yao could not be understood with conventional game knowledge at all. the series of critical hits and the dodging movements that prevented him from being attacked by the monsters had already proven it.

    after watching lao yao¡¯s performance, wang ke fell into deep thought. after a long time, she asked lao yao, ¡°your running method is very strange. although i don¡¯t know how you dodged the monster¡¯s attack, i¡¯m very curious. why did you immediately counterattack after dodging the monster¡¯s attack and not go behind it? this kind of running shouldn¡¯t be difficult for you, right?¡±

    ¡°go around and attack from behind?¡± lao yao was stunned. ¡°why should i do that?¡±

    in lao yao¡¯s understanding, one had to seize the opportunity to counterattack. if he did not attack when the target had an opening and instead had to spend another effort to run behind the target, it would be a waste of his time.

    after seeing lao yao¡¯s confused expression, wang ke suddenly realized something and said, ¡°oh, right, i forgot. you must have contacted us as soon as you entered the main city and haven¡¯t had the time to learn new skills from your professional mentor.¡±

    after a pause, wang ke continued, ¡°let me tell you. the new skills of the assassin class, as well as the talent system activated at level 10, place more emphasis on the damage of the back attack. if you attack from behind the target, there will be an increase in damage.¡±

    in any game, the assassin was a class that tested one¡¯s control skills. however, in the game era of the gods, the control of characters was changed to the control of one¡¯s own body. the game¡¯s benefits for back-attack damage were also based on this.

    there was a saying that a truly outstanding assassin was someone that would always stay behind the target! it was the importance of backstabbing.

    ¡°how about this, i¡¯ll demonstrate it to you and you¡¯ll understand!¡± wang ke could see that lao yao was still a little confused. after all, lao yao was still an online game idiot before playing this game. he had no concept of the so-called running. the reason why he could dodge the attacks of the monsters was firstly because he had activated free mode, and secondly, it was because of his habitual movements.

    wang ke found a parasitic demon and first used a new skill she had learned at level 10: concealment! lao yao only saw wang ke¡¯s body squatting down gently. her entire figure became a little blurry. then, she slowly moved behind the parasitic demon and stabbed the parasitic demon with her dagger.

    ¡°critical hit! -280!¡±

    after attacking, wang ke¡¯s figure became clear again. the parasitic demon also discovered wang ke, who had caused it harm. it turned around and attacked wang ke.

    however, wang ke took a step to the left of the parasitic demon and circled behind it. the dagger in her hand stabbed out with a forehand sword again.

    lao yao could finally tell that although wang ke was also injured by the parasitic demon¡¯s attacks, she was basically sticking close to the parasitic demon as she attacked. moreover, compared to the damage values when she occasionally failed to circle around to the side, the damage of the attacks from behind was indeed higher.

    after killing the parasitic demon, wang ke said to lao yao, ¡°the attack that i launched behind the monster is also a new skill: assassination! if i attack from behind, there will be an additional 30% critical hit rate. this skill is also a back-attack bonus skill. although it can¡¯t be like your continuous critical hit, it¡¯s still a necessary skill for assassins.¡±

    lao yao shook his head. although he could still do this kind of running, he might need to train for a long time. after all, his habit of counterattacking whenever there was an opening was not something that could be changed easily.

    ¡°oh my god! your damage is already ridiculously high. if you have the additional damage from the back attack, how strong will you be, uncle?¡± ning jing stuck out her tongue and exclaimed. then, she patted lao yao¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°this is great. in the future, we don¡¯t have to worry about damage output in dungeons¡­¡±

    ¡°no! no!¡± yang yongle suddenly said, ¡°mr. landlord can¡¯t team up with us! he can¡¯t level up with us!¡±

 Chapter 27

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°huh?¡± after hearing yang yongle¡¯s words, the girls were immediately surprised. ning jing was even more anxious. ¡°why? sister lele, uncle has such high damage. he¡¯s super efficient when we level up together. why don¡¯t you let him team up with us?¡±

    lao yao was also a little puzzled. he did not understand why yang yongle would say that.

    ¡°mr. landlord!¡± yang yongle said apologetically to lao yao, ¡°no matter what you think, i have to say this. actually, you should also understand that with such high damage output, it will definitely be faster for you to level up alone than with us. we can¡¯t delay you because of this. you have to know that maintaining the level advantage is the most important part of the game. we can¡¯t selfishly let you slow down the leveling progress¡­¡±

    ¡°let¡¯s put it this way!¡± yang yongle gritted his teeth and said, ¡°our studio is not good enough for you¡­¡±

    as soon as she said this, the group of girls fell silent¡­

    lao yao could not help but smile bitterly. so this was what yang yongle was worried about. sigh, how should he put it? a girl like yang yongle was still a little too kind. if it were anyone else, after knowing that he had such powerful attributes, they would probably want to tie him up tightly. unlike yang yongle, who actually wanted to let lao yao leave the studio to prevent herself from delaying lao yao¡¯s leveling up?

    ¡°alright, lele!¡± lao yao called out yang yongle¡¯s nickname for the first time. he waved his hand and said, ¡°you guys are my tenants. from the moment you moved in, we are considered friends. you¡¯re treating me like an outsider. don¡¯t forget that when joining the studio, if i wasn¡¯t willing, you guys wouldn¡¯t have been able to force me back then. you can say that i joined voluntarily. since we¡¯re colleagues from the same studio, there¡¯s no need to mention such things in the future.¡±

    seeing the grateful look in yang yongle¡¯s eyes, lao yao scratched his head and smiled. then, he continued, ¡°to be honest, i¡¯m a little grateful to you guys. if it weren¡¯t for you guys, i wouldn¡¯t have found such a game that i like. speaking of which, don¡¯t laugh. before i played the game, i stayed in the house all day long. what i thought about the most every day was how to scam the tenants and pay for the maintenance of this house¡­¡±

    the girls couldn¡¯t help but laugh when they heard this. they also remembered the rent of 5,000 yuan a month. life was really strange. who would have thought that one day, that black-hearted landlord would become a member of the studio and even a friend?

    with lao yao¡¯s sincere words, the girls suddenly realized that the distance between them and lao yao had shortened significantly¡­

    ¡°as for the problem of leveling up¡­ how about this!¡± lao yao paused for a moment before continuing, ¡°we¡¯ll do as you say, lele. i won¡¯t disrupt your original team formation. i¡¯ll train alone. however, if you want to kick me out of the studio, i¡¯m telling you that i won¡¯t leave even if i¡¯m beaten to death! i¡¯m stuck to you!¡±

    ¡°yes! lao yao, thank you!¡± yang yongle finally smiled happily. even the way she addressed lao yao had changed. she was no longer addressing him as ¡°mr. landlord¡±.

    ¡°alright, since it¡¯s decided, i¡¯ll go offline!¡± after hearing the system notification, lao yao said, ¡°my online time is almost up. what about you guys?¡±

    ¡°let¡¯s use as much time as possible!¡± yang yongle looked at the girls and made a decision. ¡°time is precious now. it¡¯s better to make use of it!¡±

    ¡°alright! i¡¯ll go down and eat didi¡¯s night snacks first!¡± lao yao said with a smile and chose to go offline.

    seeing lao yao¡¯s figure disappear in front of him, yang yongle sighed and said, ¡°sigh, i originally thought that he joined our studio for fun, but i didn¡¯t expect that his performance would make me feel a little ashamed¡­¡±

    the girls did not say anything. in fact, they had only discussed with yang yongle about lao yao joining the studio back then. what the girls meant was that 3,500 yuan was a very low rent. however, they were also worried that lao yao would go back on his word. therefore, they tacitly agreed to yang yongle¡¯s suggestion, hoping to maintain the low rent. moreover, lao yao looked very capable. no one knew his background. if they let him enter the game with them, they could even monitor him and prevent him from sneaking around when the girls were playing games.

    but from the looks of it now, lao yao was not the kind of person they had imagined. for an unknown studio like silver maple leaf, lao yao was able to keep his promise and never leave. this made the girls very touched.

    ¡°looks like brother lao yao is a good person!¡± a girl from the studio voiced out everyone¡¯s thoughts.

    unknowingly, lao yao¡¯s image had changed in the girls¡¯ hearts. they could now rely on him.

    yang yongle also understood the meaning behind the expressions on the girls¡¯ faces. he smiled and said, ¡°since everyone has agreed, i will discuss the treatment with lao yao after we go offline.¡±

    with yang yongle¡¯s words, she had completely acknowledged lao yao¡¯s identity in the studio. naturally, no one objected to this suggestion, even ning jing, who had always been at odds with lao yao¡­

    lao yao, who was offline, did not take off his helmet immediately. instead, he lay on the bed, feeling a little proud of what he had just said.

    ¡°it seems that a real man like me is really talented in romance!¡± lao yao laughed. ¡°those words touched me a little!¡±

    ¡°well, lao yao, you have to work hard!¡± he said to himself in his heart. ¡°this is a group of good girls. it¡¯s rare to see them in this society now. you can¡¯t miss them. otherwise, you¡¯ll regret it for the rest of your life!¡±

    this could not be said that lao yao harbored evil intentions. if it were any other man, it would be a lie to say that he was not tempted by the group of beautiful girls. furthermore, they were such ambitious girls.

    at the very least, be it the gentle and elegant yang yongle, the cheerful and fiery ning jing, the virtuous and introverted meng di, or the calm and elegant wang ke, lao yao had a good impression of them. although he did not know much about the other girls for the time being, the fact that they could gather together meant that their personalities were the same. they were not much worse.

    with a happy mood, lao yao walked out of his room and went downstairs to the living room to prepare night snacks. during this period of time, his appetite had already gotten used to meng di¡¯s culinary skills. he didn¡¯t even feel like eating instant noodles anymore!

    what nonsense. could instant noodles be compared to meng di¡¯s cooking skills? lao yao slapped himself for his own thoughts but realized that meng di did not place the night snacks on the dining table like usual.

    ¡°eh? is it not done yet?¡± lao yao curiously ran to the kitchen to take a look and realized that meng di was not there either.

    lao yao was hungry, but the chef was not around. feeling depressed, he ran to meng di¡¯s room and knocked on the door.

    ¡°didi! are you there?¡±

    lao yao knocked on the door, but no one answered. meng di did not seem to be in the room.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on? why isn¡¯t the door locked?¡± lao yao tried the lock handle and realized that it would open with a twist. he immediately frowned.

    although they were in a villa area, property management was relatively standardized and safe. however, there were all kinds of birds in the forest. some thieves specialized in targeting the wealthy districts. there were often such reports on the news.

    at the thought of this, lao yao became a little nervous. he hurriedly pushed open the door and walked in.

    ¡°didi? are you there? answer me!¡± lao yao asked as he walked in.

    unexpectedly, at this moment, the bathroom door on the left suddenly opened. meng di wiped her wet hair with a towel and walked out naked.

    when their gazes met, they were both stunned¡­

    ¡°ahhh!!!¡±

    after meng di regained her senses, she suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream. she grabbed the towel and squatted down, holding her chest. he said angrily and anxiously, ¡°you¡­ you¡­ how did you get in?!¡±

    lao yao was also awakened from the beautiful scenery by her scream. he hurriedly explained, ¡°i¡¯m sorry, i¡¯m sorry! i saw that the door was unlocked and knocked on the door, but no one answered. i thought that something had happened, so i pushed the door open and came in to take a look. i¡­ i didn¡¯t know you were¡­ you were¡­¡±

    meng di¡¯s face was so red that it was about to bleed. her eyes were filled with tears as she said, ¡°you¡­ why aren¡¯t you getting out?!¡±

    ¡°oh, oh! i¡¯ll be right out!¡± lao yao hurriedly turned around and ran out of meng di¡¯s room, closing the door behind him. when he came out, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a long breath.

    ¡°phew! i¡¯m actually being treated as a pervert!?¡± lao yao was extremely vexed. why was he so rash? could it be that he had gotten carried away by the progress of his relationship with the girls earlier? he really deserved a beating!

    ¡°speaking of which, i didn¡¯t expect didi¡¯s figure to be so good! she¡¯s super hot! why didn¡¯t i notice it before?¡± after lao yao¡¯s vexation, he couldn¡¯t help but let his imagination run wild again. meng di¡¯s smooth skin flashed across his mind, and her cleavage became even more prominent when she squatted down¡­

    then, he suddenly realized that meng di wouldn¡¯t ignore her because of this, right?

    oh no! my braised pork! what if didi gets angry in the future? what if she doesn¡¯t cook for me?

    lao yao sadly discovered this very serious problem¡­

 Chapter 28

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    just as lao yao was thinking about which flavor of instant noodles he should buy if didi was angry and refused to cook for him, the door opened and didi walked out after putting on her clothes.

    ¡°didi¡­ didi! well¡­ i¡¯m sorry for what happened just now. i didn¡¯t do it on purpose!¡± lao yao stood up in a flurry and explained, ¡°you guys usually lock the door, but when i knocked on the door just now, i realized that it wasn¡¯t locked. i thought that something had happened, so i pushed the door open and entered¡­¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s alright¡­¡± didi¡¯s small face had already turned red to the roots of her neck. she said to lao yao in a low voice, ¡°i forgot to lock it¡­ in addition, i was¡­ bathing, so i didn¡¯t hear you knock¡­¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s great¡­ it¡¯s good that you understand!¡± lao yao was touched. it seemed like didi wasn¡¯t angry and was still so understanding. it seemed like he didn¡¯t have to buy instant noodles for the time being¡­

    ¡°but¡­ mr. landlord, why did you come down?¡± didi asked curiously, ¡°didn¡¯t you team up with sister lele and the rest to level up?¡±

    ¡°that¡­¡± lao yao spread his hands and said helplessly, ¡°looks like i won¡¯t be able to level up with you guys in the future!¡±

    ¡°huh? why?¡± didi was anxious. ¡°is it because sister lele doesn¡¯t want you? or is it because of the number of people in the team? no, i¡¯ll talk to sister lele. at most, i¡¯ll leave the team and let you take over!¡±

    with that, she got up and wanted to go to yang yongle¡¯s room.

    lao yao was really touched this time. this kind girl was actually willing to quit the leveling team in the future just so that he could level up with the studio¡¯s team?

    lao yao grabbed didi and sat her down on the sofa. he smiled and said, ¡°alright, didi, it¡¯s not what you think. i was the one who suggested training alone in the future. if i train alone, my speed will be faster!¡±

    ¡°really?¡± didi looked at lao yao doubtfully.

    ¡°it¡¯s real! more real than pearls!¡± lao yao nodded with certainty.

    ¡°oh, so that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± didi said in disappointment. then, she realized that lao yao¡¯s hands were still holding her shoulders and looking at him face-to-face. his posture was very flirtatious, causing didi¡¯s face to turn red again. she whispered shyly, ¡°mr. landlord, can¡­ can you let go of me first?¡±

    ¡°oh, oh! sorry!¡± lao yao quickly apologized and let go of her.

    ¡°where are sister lele and the rest?¡± didi asked lao yao.

    ¡°they¡¯re still leveling up in the game!¡± lao yao scratched his head and said, ¡°they haven¡¯t used up their game time yet. i¡¯m a little hungry, so i went offline to find something to eat.¡±

    ¡°i¡¯ll prepare night snacks for you now!¡± didi couldn¡¯t help but stick out her tongue playfully as she remembered her duty.

    ¡°alright, we¡¯re in for a treat now!¡± lao yao beamed with joy. he smiled slyly. wasn¡¯t he just waiting for didi to say this?

    while she was busy in the kitchen, didi recalled the awkward scene in the room earlier. originally, she thought that lao yao and the studio sisters would only go offline after a while, so she wanted to take a shower before making night snacks for them. who would have thought that lao yao would unexpectedly go offline early and even barge into her room¡­

    i was too careless. i actually forgot to lock the room door! didi¡¯s face turned red. when she thought of the scene when lao yao saw her coming out of the bathroom, she felt an indescribable feeling all over her body. was she shy? it didn¡¯t seem like it was all¡­

    because of her momentary distraction, didi almost messed up his supper. however, because she salvaged it in time, there was no problem. soon, didi came out with a large bowl of egg fried rice.

    ¡°mr. landlord, if you¡¯re hungry, you can eat first!¡± didi smiled and said, ¡°i¡¯ll make their portion after sister lele and the rest go offline!¡±

    ¡°then i won¡¯t stand on ceremony!¡± lao yao sniffed the fragrance of the egg-fried rice and looked at the oily golden rice grains. didi had made a simple bowl of egg-fried rice like it was a work of art. just looking at it had already stimulated his appetite. he immediately picked up the bowl, picked up the chopsticks, and started eating.

    didi rested her chin on her arm and sat beside the dining table. she smiled as she watched lao yao gobble down the rice.

    unlike the girls in the studio, because they were girls, yang yongle and the other sisters were more refined when they ate. it was very difficult for them to eat like lao yao. to meng di, who was a chef, lao yao¡¯s eating manner was undoubtedly a huge affirmation of his culinary skills. moreover, lao yao¡¯s unpretentious eating manner indirectly displayed his straightforward personality.

    this was what meng di¡¯s delicate intuition told her as a girl. therefore, meng di always had a special favorable impression of lao yao.

    of course, this favorable impression was still rather vague at the moment. it wasn¡¯t like or dislike¡­

    after lao yao put down the bowl reluctantly, he saw meng di smiling at him. that peaceful look made lao yao¡¯s heart skip a beat. he quickly tried to find a topic to talk about. ¡°didi, do you know? i¡¯ve always admired you. i really can¡¯t imagine how a person can cook so much food for more than ten people! and the taste is so good!¡±

    ¡°what¡¯s there to admire!¡± meng di laughed. ¡°that¡¯s just very difficult for you, but i¡¯m already used to it. i don¡¯t think it¡¯s that difficult!¡±

 Chapter 29

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°hehe!¡± lao yao could only laugh foolishly.

    at this moment, meng di burst out laughing. he stretched out his hand and wiped off a grain of rice from the corner of lao yao¡¯s mouth. she even said, ¡°is it really that delicious? look at how hasty you are¡­¡±

    this intimate action stunned lao yao¡­

    meng di immediately understood that her actions were inappropriate. her face turned red again. for a moment, the two of them were so embarrassed that they could not find anything to say.

    in the living room, there was a flirtatious aura that made lao yao¡¯s cold heart eager to give it a try.

    ¡°well¡­ didi!¡± lao yao tried to break the silence. ¡°in the future, you should just call me lao yao. calling me mr. landlord is too distant¡­¡±

    ¡°okay¡­¡± meng di¡¯s face was red, and her head was almost hanging down to her chest. she only responded in a low voice.

    lao yao scratched his head. he did not know what to talk about. it was as if at this moment, meng di had returned to being the introverted and shy girl.

    fortunately, at this moment, someone came to the rescue. the door lock of the room rang, and the girls in the studio finally went offline.

    ¡°hey! uncle lao yao! why are you in the living room with didi?¡± as soon as ning jing came out, her intuition told her that something was wrong. there seemed to be a different atmosphere lingering in the living room, so she looked at lao yao fiercely and asked, ¡°tell me! did you do something to our didi?!¡±

    ¡°no!?¡± lao yao spread his hands innocently. ¡°i¡¯m just hungry. didi made night snacks for me first!¡±

    ¡°is that really the case?¡± ning jing still looked at lao yao suspiciously, but she couldn¡¯t find any flaws. after all, the empty bowl that lao yao was eating from was placed on the table.

    ¡°i¡­ i¡¯ll make night snacks for you!¡± didi couldn¡¯t stand ning jing looking at the ¡°adulterer¡± and quickly got up to the kitchen.

    ¡°there¡¯s a problem! there¡¯s definitely a problem!¡± ning jing shouted in her heart, but she couldn¡¯t say anything. she could only sit down angrily.

    ¡°alright, jingjing, let¡¯s get down to business!¡± although yang yongle was talking to ning jing, he looked at lao yao meaningfully, making lao yao¡¯s hair stand on end.

    ¡°landlord¡­ i¡¯ll call you lao yao!¡± yang yongle sat down opposite lao yao and placed a document in front of him. ¡°since you¡¯ve joined our studio, according to the rules, we still have to sign a contract with you and discuss your treatment.¡±

    ¡°hehe! finally¡­¡± lao yao scratched his head and laughed, making yang yongle feel a little embarrassed.

    however, lao yao had no intention of hurting yang yongle. he took the contract over and signed it without even looking at it. then, he pushed it back to yang yongle.

    ¡°aren¡¯t you going to take a look?¡± yang yongle asked in surprise.

    ¡°no need, i believe you!¡± lao yao¡¯s words touched yang yongle.

    ¡°well, i¡¯ll tell you about it!¡± yang yongle paused for a moment and said, ¡°although our studio is not famous and not very formal, we still have the business processes that we should have. the sisters in the studio are all the same. the base salary and commission. since you¡¯ve joined the studio, you¡¯ll follow this plan.¡±

    at this point, yang yongle looked apologetic and said, ¡°however, you also know that our studio¡¯s profit is not very good now, so we can¡¯t give you too high a base salary¡­¡±

    lao yao didn¡¯t care about the base salary and didn¡¯t argue with yang yongle about it. instead, he asked curiously, ¡°i want to know, how did you guys do business in the game in the past?¡±

    ¡°most of the businesses are similar to other studios!¡± yang yongle explained. ¡°however, because our studio is special, our focus is a little different. in the two games that we¡¯ve entered in the past, we basically focused on life professions to maintain our expenses.¡±

    in the ensuing detailed questioning, lao yao roughly understood the business of the studio.

    just as yang yongle had said, it was impossible for a studio formed by a group of girls to fight with others. however, girls had their own characteristics. they were meticulous, patient, and knew how to persevere. therefore, they had always been ahead in life professions. for example, in the previous two games, the girls in the studio had actually made a small profit by selling potions, equipment, weapons, accessories, and so on. it could be considered an impressive result.

    most games were like this. they would earn coins in the game and sell them on the platform. in the end, they would turn into profits. some would directly sell equipment for real-life money.

    of course, there were also other businesses, such as bringing people to level up, helping people pass missions, doing players¡¯ bounty missions, accepting pk missions, and so on. these were all businesses that the studio had, but silver maple leaf studio did not really accept such businesses.

    oh, that¡¯s right. the studio had a more unique business. it was to accept official commissions from the game company and help them write some articles. the game company would publish them on the official website or game website and they could earn manuscript fees. it was considered a good business.

    the people in charge of this business were three studio girls with good writing skills. one was called yin ya, one was called su hui, and the last was called wen ting. lao yao remembered their game nicknames. when he added them as friends, he still had an impression of them. they were maple leaf yaya, maple leaf susu, and maple leaf wenwen. according to yang yongle, their names were quite famous on some game websites.

    as for the three girls in the studio who were mainly in charge of collecting information, they were zhang qi, wei xiaoqian, and zeng mengli. their main job was to organize the game information from the official website or the forum and filter out information that was beneficial to the studio or could be used. in addition, they had to play the game, so the workload was quite heavy.

    finally, there were the two girls in charge of finance, jiang yu and yang huan. including yang yongle, ning jing, wang ke, and meng di, who was in charge of logistics, there were twelve girls in the studio.

    as for yang yongle, ning jing, and wang ke, their job was naturally to protect the safety of the girls in the studio. of course, this safety mainly referred to the game. the three of them had the best game operation in the studio, so their mission was to maintain a level advantage to ensure that the girls in the studio could fight back when they were bullied. although the girls rarely had conflicts with others, they could not rule out the possibility that some despicable people might kill people randomly. with such a main team, it was very important in the game.

 Chapter 30

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after listening to yang yongle¡¯s introduction, lao yao could only sigh. although this studio was small and did not have much fame, when he really understood it, it had business in every aspect and had a lot of potential. in addition, the studio did not randomly recruit people. it was just some close sisters playing together. there would not be any shady things like snatching monsters or killing people. therefore, its reputation had always been relatively good. it was often able to maintain long-term businesses with some customers. this was the reason why the studio could be profitable.

    however, due to the limited scale and foresight, and the girls in the studio were unwilling to make any drastic moves, the studio¡¯s reputation had never improved. otherwise, it would not be a problem for the studio to become big.

    after lao yao joined the studio, yang yongle gave lao yao a job mission due to the strength that he had displayed in the game. it was to maintain an advantage in strength.

    this thought lingered in yang yongle¡¯s mind, but he was also a little hesitant. it was a good thing that the studio was famous. yang yongle also wanted to be famous, but once it was famous, many things were not as you wanted them to be. what yang yongle wanted to maintain was the current simple atmosphere in the studio. she only wanted to be with a group of good sisters and live happily. too many benefits would attract trouble.

    just like that, a strange relationship was born between lao yao and the girls. lao yao was clearly their landlord, yet yang yongle had become lao yao¡¯s superior. as a result, no one knew the master-subordinate relationship between them¡­

    these were not important. what was important was that lao yao felt that it was fine as long as he was in a good mood. instead of renting the house to those so-called white-collar workers who looked glamorous on the surface but were actually stingy and calculative, he might as well rent it to these girls who had ambitions and ideals that suited his taste, right?

    lao yao lay on the bed happily and fell asleep very quickly. he even had a strange dream. the characters in the dream were all girls from the studio. one moment, they turned into ning jing, the next moment, they turned into yang yongle, and the next moment, they turned into meng di¡­

    when he woke up early in the morning, lao yao sighed to himself. ever since the girls moved in, it had been a long time since he had a dream that made him happy. it was rare!

    lao yao¡¯s morning exercise had already ended, and the girls gradually got up. to them, it was a blissful thing to be able to have a beauty sleep, so they were usually unwilling to wake up too early.

    after breakfast, yang yongle said to lao yao, ¡°your mission is to level up quickly. we can learn life skills after level 15. try your best to learn the gathering class skills. the sisters will need you to provide the raw materials for their life skills in the future!¡±

    after entering the game, lao yao found an assassin mentor and prepared to learn new skills.

    the mentor of the assassin class was a dark elf. lao yao remembered that someone on the forum said that the npcs in the main city had low-level intelligence. however, lao yao couldn¡¯t see how such low-level intelligence could be displayed.

    a long list of skills was displayed in front of lao yao. it showed the skills that lao yao could learn at this stage.

    ¡°stealth level 1: able to be used when not in combat. enables the character to become invisible and not be discovered by the target. movement speed decreases to 70%. no energy consumption. will be detected by monsters 5 levels higher than the player. will be seen through by the hunter¡¯s profession skill, ¡®eye of truth¡¯. after making an attack, it will automatically cancel. cd time: 30 seconds. learning cost: 25 silver coins.¡±

    ¡°assassination level 1: can be used while in stealth. deals 150% damage to the target and gains 2 combo points. if you attack the target from behind, you will gain an additional 30% critical hit rate. energy consumption: 35. cd time: 10 seconds. learning cost: 50 silver coins.¡±

    ¡°ambush level 1: can be used while in stealth state. hit the target¡¯s head with a fierce force and gain a combo point. deals fixed damage of 30 points and stuns the target for 30 seconds. the target wakes up immediately after being attacked. consumes 30 energy points. cd time: 60 seconds. learning cost: 75 silver coins.¡±

    ¡°shadow sword: final skill. consumes 4 combo points and deals 3 combos to the target at an extremely fast speed. the damage is 100%, 110%, 120% respectively. after the combo ends, the target will enter a weakened state for 5 seconds. damage will be reduced by 5%, physical defense will be reduced by 5%. no energy consumption, no cooldown time. learning cost: 1 gold coin.¡±

    ¡°poisoned: adds poison to an assassin¡¯s weapon, causing poison damage or poison effects after attacking the target. no energy consumption, no cooldown time. requirement: poison. learning cost: 50 silver coins.¡±

    rush level 1: increases movement speed by 50%. cannot be used in stealth. costs 20 energy. cd time: 30 seconds. learning cost: 50 silver coins.

    ¡°lockpicking level 1: passive skill. you can open treasure chests of the corresponding level. currently, you can open bronze treasure chests. learning cost: 50 silver coins.¡±

    currently, lao yao was at level 10 and could only learn these few skills. the original skills and newly learned skills needed to be maxed out in proficiency before they could be upgraded. lao yao looked at his skill proficiency and realized that it was still too early to upgrade them. the proficiency of the forehand sword was only 35% now, while the backhand sword was slightly better. as he used it more often, his current proficiency was 55%. as for the obliteration ultimate skill, it was even less. it was only 15% now.

    ¡°goddamn it!¡± after silently calculating the cost of learning the skills in his mind, lao yao could not help but curse. ¡°to learn all these skills, it actually costs me four gold coins!? i thought i was already very evil, but i didn¡¯t expect the game company to be even more evil than me!?¡±

    4 gold coins. based on the current market price, this bit of gold coins would cost at least 100 yuan. and 100 yuan was just to learn these few skills. moreover, they were the initial level 1 skills. no wonder the rich lao yao thought it was evil.

    at this stage, players did not have much money to learn skills. other than fighting bosses, normal monsters would not drop money at all. if they wanted money, they could go and do quests. the problem was that the money earned from doing quests was pitifully little. although it was a little more than when they were in the novice village, the monsters around them had become much stronger after they reached the main city. they had to prioritize equipment and potions. otherwise, they would not be able to kill monsters at all. how could they talk about doing quests?

    therefore, when the players wanted to learn skills, they were surprised to find that they did not have enough money to learn all the skills. they could only learn one or two skills for the time being.

    the forums were also filled with curses, but the game company did not give any adjustments at all. in their words, this was to recycle gold coins and maintain the healthy operation of the financial system in the game. this was to prevent the overflow of gold coins from causing the price of goods to depreciate. although the players were protesting, they could not change anything.

    if not for the fact that he had earned some money from helping people through the novice dungeon in the novice village, lao yao would definitely not be willing to learn all the skills. however, now, he gritted his teeth and learned everything he needed to learn. as for the criticism in his heart, he could only bury it for now.

    damn it, this was only a level 1 skill. if he learned more and more high-level skills in the future, wouldn¡¯t the cost become astronomical?! lao yao secretly hated it.

    in the game, each skill could only reach level 10 at most, but no one could level up that high in a short period of time. the experience gained for proficiency was very slow, so he could only let it increase naturally. if he deliberately practiced proficiency, the feeling would drive him crazy¡­

    after learning the skill, lao yao opened the talent system that he had just activated and looked at it.

    in the era of the gods, there was no such thing as class advancement. when a character was created, its class could no longer be changed. therefore, in order to prevent the classes from being the same, he used the talent system to make up for it.

    take lao yao¡¯s current assassin as an example. there were three branches of talent, namely, stealth, control, and assassination. each of them required a large amount of talent points to gradually take shape. therefore, it was impossible for a person to cultivate all three at the same time. if he insisted on doing so, the character would only end up as a trash account.

    the reward of talent points was not like in the previous games, where one would gain a point from leveling up. instead, it required the player to complete the main missions. according to the completion of the main missions, the system would give talent points as a reward. there was also an evaluation. if the system determined that the completion of the main missions was high and perfect, it would give more talent points. otherwise, it would give fewer.

    the completion rate of the main missions would become a benchmark to widen the gap between players¡­

    as for lao yao, he did not understand this point. while he was drooling over the talent attributes, he was also thinking happily about how he should add points in the future.

    ¡°stealth, hmm, i don¡¯t need to consider that! sneaking around isn¡¯t my style! assassination, i feel like it should increase damage or something like that. my damage is already high enough, so it can only be considered as the second target. then, the only thing left is control-type.¡±

    ¡°wait, that¡¯s not right. damn it, the assassination class¡¯s skills are very abnormal! i should add assassination class¡­¡±

    what lao yao saw were two of the assassination skills, both of which were passive skills. one of them was the eternal shadow, which required 5 talent points to level up. every time he leveled up, his backstabbing damage would be increased by 5%. the highest level was 5. in other words, if he maxed out this skill and attacked from behind the target, he would be able to increase his damage by 25%. this was an incredible temptation for lao yao, who was dedicated to pursuing high damage effects.

    the other one was similar. it was also a passive skill, named assassin¡¯s will, which required 5 talent points to level up. with every level up, critical hit damage would increase by 5%. it was also the highest level of 5. at the maximum level, it could increase critical hit damage by 25%. it was also a powerful damage skill.

    although these two skills attracted lao yao, they could only be learned after level 30. moreover, it was stipulated that one had to invest at least 45 talent points in the assassin class to light up the icons of these two skills¡­

    ¡°what a dilemma! it¡¯s hard to make a choice!¡± lao yao¡¯s face was covered in tears. although he wanted to learn the talent of the assassin class, there were also two skills of the control class that made him greedy.

    smite: passive skill. requirement: 5 talent points. maximum level: 5. grants a 10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds. every level-up increases the probability by 10%. level requirement: 30, and at least 40 talent points must be invested in control skills.

    shaking: passive skill. requirement: 20 talent points. maximum level: 1. extends the stun effect caused by all skills of the assassin by 2 seconds. it also has an effect on talent skill bonus. requirement: 40, and at least 40 talent points must be invested in control skills.

    if these two skills were maxed out, coupled with the reward skill ¡°backhand sword¡± that lao yao had obtained, theoretically speaking, he could directly knock his opponent out to death. it was indeed a little heaven-defying. however, it also required a lot of talent points. although lao yao really wanted to add both classes, talent points were rare. he reckoned that he would not be able to do it in a short period of time.

 Chapter 31

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    currently, he had no use for the talent system, so lao yao could only put it aside and turn around to look for the mentor. even if he wanted to add talent points, wouldn¡¯t he have to accept the main plot mission from the mentor?

    however, in the following morning, lao yao searched almost the entire van tarost city, but he still couldn¡¯t find the shadow race¡¯s mentor¡­

    ¡°goddamn it!¡± lao yao stomped his feet in exasperation and scolded in the city. ¡°why can¡¯t we find it!?¡±

    the gamers who passed by him looked at him sympathetically before walking away. such things often happened in the game. although they didn¡¯t know why lao yao was cursing, they had seen it many times and no one cared.

    helpless, lao yao could only ask yang yongle for help. he sent her a message and asked, ¡°why can¡¯t i find the professional mentor of the shadow race? other races can ask the guards for the coordinates, but why can¡¯t the shadow race?¡±

    yang yongle thought for a while before replying, ¡°i think this might be because you¡¯re a privileged race. why don¡¯t you try asking all the npcs in the city?¡±

    lao yao was instantly dumbfounded. ¡°no way!? i¡¯m going to die!¡±

    yang yongle was also a little helpless, but this was the best solution she could think of. who would know that it was so difficult to find the mentor of a privileged race? after all, their racial talent was so strong, so they had to pay a price, right?

    ¡°damn it!¡± lao yao had no choice. he looked around resentfully. he did not expect that after walking around, he would actually return to the place where he learned skills.

    ¡®forget it. in that case, i¡¯ll ask this skill instructor first.¡¯

    unexpectedly, lao yao really managed to get the answer out of him. that skill teacher said, ¡°ah, so it¡¯s you, lao yao! why didn¡¯t you ask me earlier? i thought you already knew. seeing that you¡¯ve already learned all the basic skills, i¡¯ll tell you. some time ago, i saw a shadow race member who looked very similar to you in the death swamp outside the city. perhaps he¡¯s your race mentor.¡±

    lao yao was so angry that he wanted to rush up and kick this skill teacher to the ground. damn it, why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier if you knew? why did you have to make me run through the entire city! was it easy for me!?

    after gloomily telling yang yongle about this matter, yang yongle was so amused that she started giggling. she said to lao yao, ¡°i finally understand why there are people on the forum saying that the npcs in the city have low-level intelligence.¡±

    the so-called low-level intelligence referred to the emotional judgment of the npc. if it was a program without intelligence in the past, regardless of whether lao yao asked or not, the skill teacher would tell lao yao about the matter according to the program settings and give him pointers. however, after adding emotional judgment, the npc would generate a simulated emotion based on the things the player had done. if this emotion was positive, the npc would choose to tell lao yao after he asked. on the contrary, if the emotion was negative, the npc might very well refuse to answer.

    in other words, if lao yao had casually badmouthed the npc when he was learning the skill, saying that the guy was black-hearted or something like that, or if he was stuttering and could not fork out much money to learn the skill, then it was very likely that the npc would be unhappy with him and would not tell him the position of the shadow race¡¯s mentor.

    it sounded simple, but writing such an emotional program was a rather complicated matter, so it was called low-level intelligence.

    after understanding the whole story, even if lao yao was angry, he did not dare to vent it out on this skill instructor. who knew what other useful information this fellow had? if lao yao made him unhappy and he made lao yao miss out on something else, he would be wronged.

    hence, lao yao could only curse in his heart. ¡°f*cking dark elf! f*cking low-level intelligence!¡±

    he pulled out the map and looked at it. the death swamp was on the east side of the city. even if he left the city, he would have to run far. although he didn¡¯t know why that damned race mentor wasn¡¯t in the city and ran so far away, he had to lower his head. npcs wouldn¡¯t take the initiative to look for him. he could only look for them.

    when he arrived at the east gate, he realized that it was filled with people. there was no way out.

    ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡± lao yao felt a little strange. he casually pulled over a player beside him and asked.

    ¡°the way out of the city ahead is blocked by a bunch of guys!¡± the player said gloomily.

    ¡°they¡¯re blocking the gate? why are they blocking the gate?¡± lao yao asked in puzzlement, ¡°how long has it been blocked?¡±

    ¡°they just blocked it!¡± the player said, ¡°as for why they blocked the gate, i don¡¯t know yet. let¡¯s wait and see!¡±

    lao yao and a group of players stuck out their heads and looked at the city gate. they realized that there were seven to eight players blocking the city gate. they were standing in a row at the city gate, making it impossible for people to pass through the originally narrow road.

    this was still a safe zone in the city, so there was no way to pk. therefore, although the players who were blocked were angry, they could not do anything to these people. they could only keep cursing.

    the group of players who were blocking the entrance did not care about these curses. after they stood properly, they actually spoke in unison, ¡°f*cking battlefield clan, randomly snatching monsters and killing people. i¡¯ll f*ck your entire family for 18 generations¡­¡±

    the players at the city gate almost fainted. these guys blocked the gate just to curse!?

    lao yao almost laughed out loud when he saw this. he had never seen such a situation before and found it very interesting.

    in fact, such behavior was not rare in previous games. the group of players in front of him were probably independent players who could not take revenge after being bullied. they could only find such a way to vent their anger.

    as for the battlefield clan that they were cursing, they were probably the main culprits¡­

    ¡°f*ck, if you want to scold someone, go to the city and scold them!¡± some players were getting impatient. it was one thing to scold someone, but what was the point of blocking the gate? hence, they also started cursing. for a moment, there was a commotion at the city gate.

    just as the players blocking the gate were about to continue cursing, a system announcement appeared.

    ¡°player xxx, player xxx¡­ as you have maliciously disrupted the order of the game, you are now given a warning. please stop your actions immediately, or the system will punish you!¡±

    this announcement stunned the players at the city gate for a moment. then, they all looked at the group of players blocking the door as if they were watching a good show. the group of players had obviously received the system warning and were hesitating about whether to continue blocking the gate.

    ¡°what¡¯s there to be afraid of! f*ck, i don¡¯t believe it. that f*cking battlefield clan can kill people and steal monsters without a problem. what¡¯s wrong with us cursing here?¡± a player blocking the gate said angrily, still standing on the spot and not giving way.

    the group of players blocking the gate gritted their teeth and refused to give in. in the end, not long after, a blinding white light suddenly appeared on the east wall.

    ¡°ah, look! look above the city gate!¡± a player realized that something was wrong and pointed up.

    lao yao and a group of players looked in the direction he pointed and realized that there were a few dark elf mages on the city wall. the glaring white light was emitted from their hands.

    before they realized what was going on, the dark elves had already pushed out the white balls of light in their hands. their target was the gamers blocking the city gate.

    ¡°ah!!!¡±

    following a few screams, after the players who were blocking the gate were hit by the white balls of light, their bodies were immediately surrounded by lightning. they let out a few unique screams of death and disappeared on the spot.

    at this moment, the system announcement appeared again. ¡°in view of the malicious actions of players xxx and the others, the system has already punished them. it is hoped that players will abide by the game¡¯s order and not do similar actions again¡­¡±

    as the players were killed by the system, the road to the city gate became smooth again. however, the players who witnessed this scene couldn¡¯t help but click their tongues. they also saw clearly that the dark elves on the city wall were actually level 60 npcs. killing the current players was as easy as drinking water.

    lao yao could not help but sigh. those players who were blocking the gate were simply asking for trouble. it was normal for one to be angry after being killed. however, it was not right to transfer their anger to other players by blocking the gate. it was reasonable for them to be punished by the system.

    there were also some knowledgeable players who could tell that the system¡¯s reaction to the players¡¯ actions could be said to be incomparably fast. it was simply unbelievable for the system to respond after the gate was blocked for a short while.

    this had happened in many games in the past. players used bugs in various games to make a mess. many players had left the game disheartened because of such malicious behavior.

    on this point, the era of the gods was indeed better. the system reacted quickly and those people did not cause much of an impact.

    as for those unlucky players, they would definitely lose exp if they died.

    lao yao shook his head and followed the crowd out of the east gate, heading towards the death swamp¡­

 Chapter 32

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    the monsters that appeared in the death swamp were between level 13 to 15. although it was not a problem for lao yao to kill monsters now, the attacks of the monsters here were already relatively high. if he was accidentally touched, he might die and return to the city. therefore, lao yao had always been very careful.

    this map was a wilderness map and it would spawn a boss. however, lao yao had no intention of looking for it now. just like the name of the map, this godforsaken place was filled with soft mud. if he was not careful, he might even fall into the swamp and lose half of his hp. he really did not know why the officials would create such a map. there were not many players who were willing to come here to level up. looking around, there was no one at all.

    ¡°f*cking race mentor, i curse your entire family. why did you come to this place?¡± lao yao cursed as he killed a level 13 monster beside him.

    fortunately, when the skill teacher gave him the information, he also roughly pointed out the location. otherwise, it would probably be very difficult for lao yao to find his race mentor on such a huge map.

    when he saw a figure lying on the ground, lao yao¡¯s eyes turned red. it wasn¡¯t easy! i¡¯ve finally found you¡­

    the race mentor of the shadow race was the same as the one that lao yao had seen when he first established his character. the guy had a pair of dark black eyes. however, this teacher looked very disheveled now. he could not even stand steadily. when he saw lao yao, his face immediately revealed a hint of surprise.

    ¡°ah! god of shadows above, to actually be able to meet a clansman in such a godforsaken place, there¡¯s nothing more fortunate than this!¡± the mentor of the shadow race cried out exaggeratedly, ¡°my dear clansman, i wonder if i can ask you for some food? you have to know that i haven¡¯t found any food for three whole days¡­¡±

    lao yao knew that he had triggered the plot. the guy wanted food? he wondered if the bread he had on him would work.

    bread: recovers 20 points of hp every second for 10 seconds. it only works when you sit down. lao yao bought this when he was looking for this brother in front of him in the city. he didn¡¯t expect it to come in handy.

    after receiving the bread from lao yao, the shadow race mentor hurriedly ate it. after a moment, he finally recovered his strength and could stand up. he patted his clothes and said to lao yao, ¡°thank you, my dear clansman. if i hadn¡¯t met you, i might have starved to death here.¡±

    lao yao couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. he also knew that this was just a dialog of the plot. actually, even if he didn¡¯t appear here, this brother in front of him probably wouldn¡¯t die even if he starved for half a year.

    ¡°those damn swamp fishmen, they stole my luggage!¡± the mentor of the shadow race said angrily, ¡°dear clansman, i wonder if you can help me teach them a lesson and snatch my luggage back. otherwise, i might not be able to reach van tarost city¡­¡±

    a system notification box appeared in front of lao yao, asking him if he wanted to accept the shadow race mentor¡¯s mission. without thinking, lao yao chose yes.

    what a joke. didn¡¯t i come all the way here just to look for you to accept the mission?

    ¡°received the first step of the main storyline mission: help the shadow race mentor kill 50 death swamp fishmen and retrieve the mentor¡¯s luggage.¡±

    lao yao couldn¡¯t help but feel a little depressed. he didn¡¯t expect the level of the main storyline of the privileged races to be quite difficult. he was asked to kill level 13 monsters. one had to know that the first few steps of the main storyline of yang yongle and the others were just to look for people. even if they killed monsters, they would only kill level 11 monsters.

    fortunately, lao yao¡¯s attack was high enough, so it was not difficult to kill them. he just had to pay attention to dodging the attacks.

    lao yao returned to the respawn point where he first encountered the death swamp fishmen and started killing monsters.

    the death swamp fishman was a humanoid fish monster with 8,000 hp, 130 defense, and a physical attack type. while killing monsters, lao yao also began to familiarize himself with the new skills he had learned.

    squatting down slightly, lao yao recited ¡°stealth¡± in his mind and realized that his body had become blurry. it was exactly the same as when wang ke had demonstrated it to him back then. lao yao knew that he had succeeded in using the skill.

    the talent of the shadow race was to permanently increase the stealth skill by one level. therefore, lao yao¡¯s stealth skill was actually level 2 now. his movement speed was reduced to 75%, which was 5% faster than when he was at the first level.

    after carefully experiencing the feeling brought to his body by the stealth skill, it seemed to make his body a little heavier and he was unable to run. this made lao yao feel a little unaccustomed and he could only slowly adapt to it.

    although the level of the death swamp fishman was higher than lao yao, it was still very difficult to be discovered under the level 2 stealth state. lao yao approached the back of the fishman and stabbed out with the new skill, ¡°assassination¡±.

    -310!

    the new skill was not very convenient to use, so lao yao could not find the feeling of a critical hit. therefore, only a non-critical hit damage appeared. however, this also made lao yao feel a little good. the damage of this assassination skill was 150%, which was much higher than the forehand sword and backhand sword. the damage value was quite considerable.

    after using the assassination skill, one could obtain two combo points. after lao yao used the forehand sword and backhand sword, he had accumulated four combo points. hence, he used the final skill, ¡°shadow sword!¡±

    as the skill description was three consecutive attacks, lao yao obediently attacked three times.

    -205!

    -230!

    -260!

    the three damage effects did not result in a critical hit. however, lao yao could tell that the damage was indeed increased according to 100%, 110%, and 120%. with lao yao¡¯s attack, three attacks could cause about 700 damage. other players would probably be able to cause around 400 to 500 damage with this final skill. it seemed that the assassin profession was indeed a profession with high damage.

    not only that, after lao yao¡¯s final skill was completed and the damage value appeared, a ball of black light suddenly appeared on the fishman¡¯s body and lingered around its entire body. lao yao knew that this was the weakening effect attached to the final skill.

    he casually dealt a normal attack on the fishman, and the damage he dealt was slightly higher. although this weakened state only had a 5% defense reduction effect, it was better than nothing.

    after verifying the skill, lao yao again changed it according to his own habit. although the three consecutive attacks looked gorgeous, it really did not conform to lao yao¡¯s simple and fast style. therefore, according to the previous experience of changing the final skill ¡°obliteration¡±, lao yao planned to combine the three attacks into one.

    the first fishman that was attacked was quickly killed. lao yao found the second fishman and used stealth to sneak behind him and assassinate him.

    ¡°critical hit! -610!¡±

    lao yao shook his head. the additional 30% chance of critical strike from behind was actually useless to him. as long as he focused his mind and thought of a critical strike, the additional critical strike chance would be completely useless.

    forehand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -360!¡±

    backhand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -210!¡±

    he had enough combo points, shadow sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -1410!¡±

    an extremely high damage that was enough to make anyone who saw it faint instantly appeared above the fishman¡¯s head! lao yao had successfully combined the three slashes into one slash!

    the shadow sword dealt around 700 damage to the fishman, which was around 1,400 damage if it was a critical hit. although the actual damage to the fishman did not change, if it was three consecutive attacks, the damage would rise separately. it was not as shocking as the combined damage numbers.

    this number also made lao yao very happy. goddamn it! a damage value of over 1,000! this was the first time something like this had happened!

    although it felt good, these few attacks combined only took away about 2,500 hp from the fishman, and the fishman¡¯s hp was 8,000. he still needed a few more attacks. in the game era of the gods, the damage value of players looked quite high, but the monster¡¯s hp was correspondingly greater.

    for the following attacks, lao yao could only carry out a normal attack. the combination of these few skills, from the accumulation of combo points to the final attack, had already used most of his 100/100 energy.

    assassination consumed 35 energy points, forehand sword consumed 30 energy points, and backhand sword consumed 35 energy points. these were almost emptying the energy pool. although the energy points recovered very quickly, at 25 points in a second, they still couldn¡¯t keep up with the consumption.

    although the assassin profession had high damage, it could be seen from this that the weakness of the profession was the short stamina. it would only become better when they reached level 30 and learned skills that could increase their energy recovery.

    just as lao yao was slowly farming monsters, a sound came from not far behind him.

    ¡°f*ck, there¡¯s actually someone leveling in this godforsaken place? i thought no one would come!¡±

    lao yao turned around and realized that a group of players was walking over. in this group of players, there was a priest, a mage, two warriors, and a hunter. there were a total of five players and the team was not full.

    when he saw this group of players clearly, lao yao immediately became alert. this was because he saw that these players all had red names! furthermore, their names seemed a little familiar.

    the warrior at the front had a red name above his head: ¡°battlefield@fierce tiger¡±!

    lao yao suddenly remembered. wasn¡¯t this the battlefield clan that the players who had blocked the gate earlier were cursing?

 Chapter 33

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    these five players who appeared in front of lao yao all had the clan name of ¡°battlefield¡± above their heads. after players reached level 10 and entered the main city, the pk system was also activated. if their names turned red after killing someone, then the names above their heads could not be hidden. that was why lao yao could tell their names at a glance.

    this group of battlefield clan¡¯s players had probably become red after killing so many people previously. now, they had specially come to a sparsely populated map like the death swamp to clear their red names. however, they did not expect that there would be an unconventional lao yao standing in a place where there was no one.

    lao yao looked at them and did not say anything. he wanted to see what they were up to.

    these battlefield clan players were not fools. the red names on their heads were so glaring. it was better to avoid people as much as possible. seeing that lao yao¡¯s attitude was a little cold, they turned around and wanted to leave.

    however, at this moment, a hunter in the team called battlefield@wandering soul saw the wolf fang dagger in lao yao¡¯s hand.

    blue grade was an intermediate and high-grade equipment. not only did it have powerful attributes, but its appearance was also relatively unique. the wolf fang dagger in lao yao¡¯s hand was like this. there was a circle of sharp barbs on the back. the hunter had sharp eyes and could tell at a glance that the dagger was different from ordinary white or green weapons. although he did not know what quality it was, it was definitely a small top-grade weapon.

    hence, the hunter quietly pulled battlefield@fierce tiger and the five of them whispered to each other in the team.

    originally, when lao yao saw that they were about to turn around and leave, he did not want to cause any trouble. unexpectedly, not long after these guys stopped in their tracks, they actually walked towards lao yao again.

    ¡°hey, brother!¡± battlefield@fierce tiger greeted lao yao. ¡°it¡¯s not easy to meet someone in this godforsaken place. how about we add each other as friends and form a team to level up? we happen to be short of a person in our team here. do you want to come?¡±

    lao yao could not help but laugh. f*ck, this fellow did not even know how to lie. although he wanted to form a team with lao yao, his eyes were fixed on the wolf fang dagger in lao yao¡¯s hand. how could lao yao not tell what they were thinking?

    the so-called teaming up was just an excuse, right? once he agreed to join the team, they would be able to see his name. at that time, they would use various excuses to borrow the dagger from him to take a look. in the end, they would directly snatch the dagger.

    although lao yao had never played any games before, it did not mean that he did not know these tricks. one look and he could tell that these guys were up to no good.

    however, lao yao, who was doing the main storyline mission, did not have the mood to argue with them now. he immediately put on a straight face and scolded, ¡°scram! don¡¯t be an eyesore here! if you want to level up, go find a place yourself. you¡¯re not allowed to come here!¡±

    the five players from the battlefield clan were instantly stunned. the words that lao yao said sounded very familiar. in the past, they had often scolded other players like this. they did not expect that the tables would turn. today, they had enjoyed it from someone else¡¯s mouth¡­

    lao yao did not want to waste his breath on them, so he directly scolded them. he could imagine that if he rejected them nicely, these guys would definitely continue to pester him shamelessly. he might as well make things clear.

    battlefield@fierce tiger was fuming from lao yao¡¯s scolding. just as he was about to retaliate, he was pulled back by the mage called battlefield@little steel cannon. not only was this mage¡¯s name a little vulgar, but he also looked a little sinister. he smiled and said to lao yao, ¡°brother, is there a misunderstanding? don¡¯t think that we are red-named. we only became like this because we killed a few fellows who were snatching monsters. we didn¡¯t want to either. now, we have to come here to wash our red names. brother, help us. let¡¯s form a team and level up together. we can wash our red names faster.¡±

    little steel cannon¡¯s acting skills were much better than the warrior called fierce tiger. he had a smile on his face and looked very sincere. if lao yao didn¡¯t know what they were thinking, he might really believe him.

    ¡°don¡¯t call me that. who¡¯s your brother?¡± lao yao rolled his eyes at him and spun the wolf fang dagger in his hand. he sneered and said, ¡°grandson, don¡¯t think that i don¡¯t understand. you¡¯re here for my weapon, right? let me tell you, give up. otherwise, i don¡¯t mind killing people, especially those with red names!¡±

    after yang yongle had given lao yao a battle mission, lao yao had deliberately tried to understand the pk system. in this game, not only would killing a red-named player not result in a crime value, but it would also result in an honor kill reputation. of course, such a reputation could only be obtained by killing a player whose level was similar to one¡¯s own.

    to be honest, lao yao was also a little eager to give it a try. he had activated the free mode and had been fighting monsters in the game for so long. he had never tested it on players before. if these guys did not know what was good for them, he could try it today.

    lao yao¡¯s rude words made the battlefield clan¡¯s players¡¯ expressions turn ugly. they had always been arrogant. it was rare for them to be so polite, but they were actually scolded by him. it was already good enough that they didn¡¯t fly into a rage.

    ¡°what should we do?¡± the hunter battlefield@wandering soul asked in the party channel, ¡°that guy won¡¯t fall for it!¡±

    the hunter was the one who coveted lao yao¡¯s dagger. the idea just now came from his mouth. other than using bows and arrows, hunters also used daggers in close combat. that was why he was greedy when he saw lao yao¡¯s dagger.

    ¡°f*ck, who cares? let¡¯s just kill this guy!¡± battlefield@fierce tiger cursed. ¡°i think this guy only has a few pieces of equipment on him. he¡¯s probably trash. if we kill him, he might really drop equipment!¡±

    little steel cannon agreed. ¡°f*ck! even if he doesn¡¯t drop the equipment we want, killing him once is enough. damn it, he actually dares to curse us.¡±

    after these guys finished discussing, they immediately ran past lao yao and pulled out their weapons.

    ¡°hehe, you can¡¯t hold it in anymore. are you going to shed all pretense of cordiality?¡± lao yao laughed. ¡°the few of you are really despicable. couldn¡¯t you have done this earlier? why did you have to provoke me to curse you before you¡¯re satisfied!¡±

    ¡°cut the crap!¡± battlefield@fierce tiger¡¯s face turned ashen from lao yao¡¯s words. after cursing, he directly charged towards lao yao.

    fierce tiger was an orc warrior. his racial talents gave him additional strength. coupled with the green sword in his hand, his attack was not bad. in his opinion, he could basically kill an assassin with one hit. therefore, he did not think twice and used a heavy strike skill.

    lao yao saw the direction of his attack and slid to the side, easily dodging to his right. the wolf fang dagger in his right hand aimed at the man¡¯s neck and slashed.

    this was a subconscious reaction that lao yao had honed over many years of being a mercenary. the dagger was like a venomous snake, carrying a cold glint as it brushed past the neck of battlefield@fierce tiger on the battlefield. at this moment, battlefield@fierce tiger actually forgot that this was in the game. when lao yao attacked him, the cold gaze in his eyes that looked like he was looking at a dead person actually frightened him so much that he broke out in cold sweat.

    ¡°critical hit! -450!¡±

    ¡°yo! your defense is not bad!¡± lao yao shook his head and sighed. when he attacked fierce tiger earlier, he subconsciously thought that he was fighting with the enemy and forgot that this was in the game. therefore, that attack was only a normal attack and not the damage after using a skill.

    however, after making some calculations in his heart, he realized that the defense of this warrior called battlefield@fierce tiger in front of him was actually about the same as the defense of a level 13 death swamp fishman. he could not help but sigh.

    the warrior class could wear chain mail equipment, and their physical defense was outstanding. if they added points to agility, the increase in defense was also higher than that of the assassin class. furthermore, after adding 1 point of strength, it would increase 10 hp. therefore, most warriors distributed their free attribute points in a ratio of 7:3.

    fierce tiger was currently at level 13 and had added points according to this ratio. his current strength was 108 points and the warrior¡¯s hp increased by 30 after leveling up. his total hp was 1,440 and his defense was around 120. although he was not a powerful mt, his strength was not bad. he was indeed worthy of lao yao¡¯s praise.

    he reached out and touched his neck. there was still the feeling of a dagger slashing across it. the moment he thought about it, he felt cold sweat dripping down his back. the cold gaze from lao yao earlier really made him think that he was dead for sure. the feeling of death brushing past his shoulders made him feel a chill. he flew into a rage out of humiliation and roared at his teammates, ¡°what are you waiting for?! attack together! explode this guy!¡±

    actually, it wasn¡¯t that his teammates were willing to be stunned. it was just that they realized that when lao yao was attacked by fierce tiger earlier on, there wasn¡¯t any damage value. there wasn¡¯t even a miss. they were thinking about what was going on and naturally forgot to work together.

    after fierce tiger roared, they finally reacted and fired at lao yao.

    the two warriors surrounded lao yao while the two hunters drew their bows and nocked their arrows. the mage began to channel the spells. the priest was also preparing to use his only attack skill. it could be said that this group of players from the battlefield clan had quite a tacit understanding.

    at this moment, lao yao also realized the problem. there were simply too many of them. just as he concentrated on dodging the attacks of the two warriors and was about to counterattack, two arrows flew towards him at a pincer angle. left with no choice, he could only lower his head and dodge again.

    before lao yao could stand up and attack, the mage¡¯s ¡°flame arrow¡± also shot over. lao yao could only dodge again in a sorry state.

    however, this time, lao yao did not manage to dodge it. the spell landed on his body and the words ¡°-300!¡± appeared above his head.

    lao yao was instantly shocked. what was going on!? although he had dodged a little awkwardly just now, he was still confident that he could dodge it!?

    the scene from before flashed across lao yao¡¯s eyes. the ¡°flame arrow¡± that the mage had shot out seemed to have turned slightly when he dodged it¡­

    could it be that¡­ magic attacks could not be dodged?!

 Chapter 34

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    there was no time for lao yao to hesitate. he only had 3 magic defense and 330 hp to begin with. the mage¡¯s attack instantly depleted lao yao¡¯s hp. not far away, the priest was preparing to release spells to attack.

    lao yao knew that it was the only skill that a priest could use to level up: illumination! although it was very likely that the priest¡¯s attack was not very high, lao yao only had 30 hp left. it could be said that he would die the moment anyone touched him. he did not dare to compete with the priest in terms of luck.

    ¡°rush!¡± the decisive lao yao activated this new skill that he had learned. it increased his movement speed by 50%. not only could it allow lao yao to quickly enter the battle, but it could also allow him to quickly escape the battle.

    players¡¯ attack range was limited. after lao yao started running, he had already exceeded the range of the priest¡¯s attack. the spells that could be released immediately had to be stopped.

    furthermore, an assassin who had already sped up was not something that players could catch up to at this stage of the game. unless the warrior reached level 20 and learned the charge skill, it would be impossible. therefore, the players from the battlefield clan could only watch helplessly as lao yao left until his back disappeared¡­

    ¡°f*ck! fierce tiger! what are you all doing!?¡± seeing lao yao leave in such a carefree manner, the mage couldn¡¯t help but curse in exasperation. ¡°the two of you surrounded him, but you actually didn¡¯t hit him at all!?¡±

    ¡°brother cannon!¡± fierce tiger and the other warrior said aggrievedly, ¡°it¡¯s not our fault! you saw our attack, but that guy dodged it somehow and couldn¡¯t hit him! there wasn¡¯t even a miss!¡±

    the priest at the back also came forward to speak up for fierce tiger and the others. ¡°brother cannon, don¡¯t blame them. this guy was a little strange just now. not only fierce tiger and the others, but even the arrows shot by wandering soul were dodged by him!¡±

    the hunter nodded at the side. just now, he had fired two consecutive arrows from behind, but neither of them hit the target.

    the mage said gloomily, ¡°isn¡¯t this too ridiculous? am i the only one who hit him? although i also know that the magic hit rate is 100%, your attack hit rates are not low either. could it be that it was such a coincidence that all of you made a 5%-chance mistake at the same time?¡±

    ¡°brother cannon! i think¡­ that guy is probably an expert!¡± fierce tiger¡¯s face darkened as he subconsciously touched his neck. there was still the cold feeling of the dagger slashing across it. he couldn¡¯t help but shiver. he said with lingering fear, ¡°damn it, he hit me just now. i was actually frightened by his gaze¡­ if this wasn¡¯t in the game, i probably would have died¡­¡±

    seeing fierce tiger like this, the group of people looked at each other. they were not involved and did not understand fierce tiger¡¯s feelings at that time. however, they knew very well what kind of person fierce tiger was. fighting was common in reality. fierce tiger, who did not take injuries seriously, actually said that he was frightened by his gaze¡­

    ¡°also!¡± fierce tiger rubbed his neck and thought about it for a moment before continuing, ¡°i don¡¯t know if you guys noticed it earlier, but that guy¡¯s attack on me actually took away more than 400 hp! although it was a critical hit, i noticed that it was a white number for normal attacks. that guy didn¡¯t even use any skills!¡±

    everyone was shocked. 400!? and it was normal damage? didn¡¯t it mean that he could kill the fierce tiger with about four slashes!?

    the warrior profession added 1 point of strength and could gain an additional 10 hp. hence, it was usually a ratio of 7:3 when distributing the free attribute points. the fierce tiger was no exception. coupled with the high defense chain mail equipment on its body, the fierce tiger now had a total of 1,440 hp and 120 physical defense. lao yao could actually cut the fierce tiger with a normal slash and reduce more than 400 points. how much would it be if it was a skill?

    ¡°so that¡¯s it!¡± the hunter battlefield@wandering soul said, ¡°that dagger must be a very powerful weapon. otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have such high damage! i think it might be a blue weapon with attack power!¡±

    blue weapon?! hearing this, the few of them revealed greedy gazes. at this stage, a blue weapon was comparable to a divine weapon. even if they could not use it themselves, they could still sell it for a large sum of money!

    at the very least, it could be raised to a high price of 4,000 or 5,000 yuan!

    ¡°brother cannon, what should we do?¡± fierce tiger asked the mage. ¡°should we continue? i think that guy is an independent player. if we inform our brothers in the clan and kill him every time we see him, we might really be able to get that dagger!¡±

    mage little steel cannon hesitated for a moment before asking, ¡°did you see his name clearly?¡±

    the fierce tiger nodded and said, ¡°look carefully. he¡¯s called lao yao. there¡¯s no prefix in front of his name. he¡¯s definitely not a player from a clan or guild!¡±

    the mage was relieved and nodded. ¡°that¡¯s good. inform the brothers in the clan. no matter how powerful he is, as long as he doesn¡¯t have a backer, he¡¯s still a scumbag! it¡¯s a pity that he escaped just now. otherwise, we might have been lucky and obtained the dagger!¡±

    fierce tiger and the others also felt that it was a pity. humans were all like this. they would always fantasize that they were the lucky one. although they knew that the chances of white-name players dropping equipment were very low, they could not help but fantasize.

    ¡°level up first! hurry up and wash our red names. this place is too humid. i don¡¯t feel comfortable staying here!¡± the mage instructed.

    ¡°brother cannon, do you think¡­ that guy will come back?¡± the priest hesitated and asked.

    ¡°what kind of joke is this?!¡± fierce tiger continued, ¡°unless he¡¯s a fool! can he defeat five people by himself? if he dares to come back, he wouldn¡¯t have run away earlier! what¡¯s the point of thinking so much? kill the monsters!¡±

    the five of them calmed down and began to level up. however, they did not expect that the priest¡¯s worries would soon become reality¡­

    lao yao, who was sprinting all the way, had already left the five of them in the dust after the 15-second skill effect disappeared. lao yao sat on the ground and carefully recalled the scene where he was attacked by the mage. in the end, he recalled what was said on the forum about the magic hit rate being 100%. he temporarily figured it out.

    ¡°this is a little troublesome!¡± lao yao rubbed his chin and muttered to himself. ¡°that magic can actually turn corners and can¡¯t even be dodged! looks like if i want to kill them all, the first thing i have to do is to deal with this mage!¡±

    in all fairness, the coordination of these players was quite good. when they surrounded lao yao earlier on, their attacks were almost in tandem. at that time, lao yao could not find a chance to attack at all and could only dodge passively.

    however, as long as he could kill the mage, lao yao still had a way to deal with a few physical attack classes.

    when his hp was fully recovered and his rush skill could be used again, lao yao activated his stealth skill and slowly returned the way he came, following behind the five players from the battlefield clan.

    they might not have expected that someone would really return alone after being surrounded.

    seeing that the five of them were farming monsters, lao yao couldn¡¯t help but feel secretly pleased. the mage and priest were all hiding at the back and the warriors were in the front to tank the monsters. this was equivalent to making it easier for lao yao to attack.

    lao yao carefully approached the mage step by step and launched an assassination attack.

    at this moment, the mage was channeling the spell attack and did not understand what was going on. he heard a critical hit. before he could react, he realized that he had already fallen. the system¡¯s notification sounded in his ear. ¡°you have died! please choose a resurrection point or wait for help¡­¡±

    as for fierce tiger and the others who were fighting the monsters in front, when they heard the mage¡¯s scream, they quickly turned around and saw the words ¡°critical hit! -880!¡± and the mage¡¯s soft fall.

    ¡°ah! brother cannon!?¡± fierce tiger and the others exclaimed. then, they saw lao yao appear from his hiding state after taking the initiative to attack.

    ¡°bastard! you dare to come back!?¡± they all roared angrily and rushed towards lao yao.

    however, lao yao did not continue fighting. he picked up the equipment that dropped when the mage died. without even looking at it, he activated his rush skill and fled far away again.

    the goal of the first attack had already been achieved. after the mage was killed, he could only return to the city to revive. at this stage, even if there was a priest, there was no way to revive him. this was because lao yao remembered that yang yongle had once mentioned to him that level 15 was the first team dungeon level. coincidentally, the priest had to be at level 15 to learn the resurrection skill. the resurrection skill could be said to be prepared for the dungeons. no matter how lao yao looked at it, he did not think that this group of players from the battlefield clan were at level 15 now¡­

    therefore, after the mage was killed, he could only return to the city and revive. however, what did it mean for a red-name player to return to the city? he could only wait to be imprisoned!

    the mage who had fallen to the ground also clearly realized this, so he did not choose to revive. instead, he lay on the ground and watched as lao yao fled into the distance. he gritted his teeth in hatred¡­

 Chapter 35

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°f*ck! he got away again!¡± fierce tiger was so angry that he smashed his weapon on the ground. then, afraid that his weapon would be refreshed by the system, he quickly picked it up.

    the remaining four people at the scene were all ashen-faced. they had never expected that the guy who they thought would not come back to look for trouble would really run back. moreover, they were the ones who were being tortured.

    the other party left after fighting and quickly killed one of them. even if they wanted to chase after him, they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up. this was the first time they had been beaten to such a state.

    ¡°did that guy learn all the new skills of the assassin?¡± the priest asked in confusion, ¡°where did he get so many gold coins?¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t care so much!¡± the tiger shouted. ¡°i think that guy will come back. he¡¯s definitely going to fight us!¡±

    then, he turned to the hunter wandering soul and said, ¡°don¡¯t fight the monsters for now. use your eye of truth to look around at all times. if that guy sneaks over again, inform us when you see him. mark him and we¡¯ll surround him together!¡±

    the hunter¡¯s skill could keep the target in the combat state for the duration of the skill. the target would not be able to use the stealth skill and would also receive a 50% increase in damage from the hunter¡¯s attack. if lao yao was hit, he would probably be in danger.

    the hunter nodded and agreed. fierce tiger then said to the mage on the ground in the party channel, ¡°bro cannon, don¡¯t revive yet, or you¡¯ll go to jail when you return to the city. after we kill that guy, we¡¯ll find a level 15 priest in the family who has learned revival to pull you back!¡±

    after a player died, if they did not choose to return to the city and revive, they could only wait on the ground. they could only listen to their teammates and could not say anything. the fierce tiger understood this, so without waiting for the mage to reply, he began to pretend to fight the monsters again.

    they were waiting for lao yao¡¯s second attack and planned to get rid of him completely¡­

    the wandering soul kept looking around with their eyes of truth, trying to see through lao yao when he was sneaking over. however, they did not expect that the talent of lao yao¡¯s shadow race was to permanently add a level of stealth. level 2 stealth was not something that the hunter could see through now¡­

    moreover, they had been blinded by anger and had forgotten one thing. when the mage had fallen to the ground, that huge damage number had floated above his head, and they had forgotten about it. even if the mage remembered it now, he couldn¡¯t tell them to be careful. he couldn¡¯t speak at all.

    just as they had expected, lao yao came again. he hid at the side and observed the actions of the few fellows. he couldn¡¯t help but laugh. were these fellows too confident? did they really think that they could kill him? they couldn¡¯t even act well. one look and he knew that there was a trap!

    however, even though he knew that there was a trap, lao yao was not afraid. he understood his advantage. the hunter¡¯s eye of truth would not be able to see through him. furthermore, his high damage guaranteed that he could instantly kill a class with low defense. it could be said that in lao yao¡¯s plan, these guys were already dead.

    this time, lao yao changed his strategy and got close to the hunter.

    the hunter and the priest stayed together. in their opinion, if lao yao wanted to make a move, he would definitely aim at the priest. if he stayed by the priest¡¯s side, the chance of seeing through the eye of truth would be higher.

    this was a common practice. under normal circumstances, assassins would choose a profession with low defense and low hp. however, the hunter profession happened to be the nemesis of assassins. under normal circumstances, no one would usually look for a hunter.

    in the end, lao yao did not care about this at all. when he came behind the hunter, lao yao attacked. however, it was not an assassination.

    ¡°ambush!¡±

    the word ¡°-30!¡± appeared above hunter¡¯s head, accompanied by a large circle of dizzy patterns. the hunter was stunned.

    ¡°level 1 ambush: can be used while in stealth state. hit the target¡¯s head with a fierce force and gain a combo point. deals fixed damage of 30 points and stuns the target for 30 seconds. the target will wake up immediately after being attacked. consumes 30 energy points. cd time: 60 seconds.¡±

    this move was the assassin¡¯s super control skill. after being stunned, if no one attacked him, the hunter would be stunned and unable to attack or use any skills.

    30 seconds was enough for lao yao to move for a long time. after stunning the hunter, lao yao started attacking the priest beside him.

    this priest was also an expert. seeing that lao yao had started to attack him, he did not panic much. ignoring his own safety, he wanted to rush forward and wake the hunter up. when the two warriors, including fierce tiger, saw the appearance of lao yao, they immediately rushed over, wanting to surround him.

    however, they were wrong about one thing. how high was lao yao¡¯s attack damage?

    priests were very weak to begin with. after lao yao understood the priest¡¯s intentions, he did not care about him and instead attacked with all his might.

    forehand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -480!¡±

    backhand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -375!¡±

    ultimate skill¡­

    no ultimate skill. even the priest did not expect lao yao to use two consecutive critical hits to instantly kill him!?

    this priest was not an all-intelligence priest, but an hp priest who had added a little strength. although his hp was not as high as a warrior¡¯s, it was slightly higher than that of little steel cannon who was an all-intelligence mage. the mage¡¯s hp was less than 400, but he had more than 700.

    however, for two consecutive critical hits, the outcome was the same. the priest had only run two steps when he was knocked out by lao yao before he could even touch the stunned hunter¡­

    why!? the priest was lying on the ground in sorrow. he was so close. if he could wake up the hunter, as long as the hunter used the mark skill on lao yao, lao yao would have no choice but to be tortured by them.

    seeing that another of their companions had died, the eyes of the fierce tiger and the other warrior instantly turned red. they roared and activated their battle roars to attack lao yao.

    level 1 battle roar: consumes 20 rage points to increase your attack by 15% for 60 seconds. cooldown: 120 seconds.

    without the long-range interference of the hunter, lao yao would not take the two warriors seriously. he did not know what these two warriors were thinking. they were actually using two-handed weapons and not shields. otherwise, lao yao would probably be afraid of their shield bash skills. if he was stunned by the shield bash, lao yao would not be able to withstand the attacks of the two warriors.

    however, it was good that they were not equipped with shields. he could attack without worry. previously, when he ambushed the hunter, he obtained a combo point. then, he obtained two more from the priest. now, lao yao had a total of three combo points on him. he could use the obliteration skill. however, after some consideration, lao yao stabbed the fierce tiger with his forehand sword.

    four combo points! enough!

    lao yao took a side step and dodged the other warrior¡¯s heavy strike skill. he took the opportunity to arrive behind the tiger and immediately attacked with his shadow sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -1390!¡±

    a huge golden number jumped out, scaring the mage and priest who were lying on the ground. then, they saw fierce tiger fall.

    previously, he had used the forehand sword and then the shadow sword. the total damage had already reached more than 1,800. even if the fierce tiger had a high hp of 1,440, he was still destroyed by lao yao¡­

    now, there was only the last warrior and the hunter who was still in a daze. lao yao calmly dodged the warrior¡¯s attacks and waited for his energy to recover.

    when this warrior also fell unwillingly, lao yao walked to the unconscious hunter.

    although the hunter wandering soul was unconscious, he was only restricted by the system and could not move or use his skills. he had seen everything that had happened earlier. when he saw lao yao walking over, he realized that he still had 15 seconds to wake up¡­

    ¡°dammit! brat! i¡¯ll remember you!¡± the wandering soul said hatefully, ¡°just wait to be hunted down by our family!¡±

    lao yao did not reply. he slowly took out the low-level poison that he had bought from the shop and used his poisoning skill to dye the two daggers green. only then did he say to the hunter, ¡°it¡¯s alright. if anyone dares to chase after me, i¡¯ll chase after them! i¡¯m not someone who can be scared!¡±

    with that said, he threw a backhand sword at the wandering soul!

    ¡°critical hit! -550!¡±

    the double damage of the backhand sword was immediately displayed. as a hunter, his defense and hp were as low as those of an assassin. lao yao himself only had around 300 hp, so the hunter in front of him was naturally not much higher. he was instantly killed¡­

    lao yao picked up all the equipment that dropped on the ground and whistled as he left. before he left, he even said, ¡°i told you to get lost a long time ago, but you insisted on ignoring me. i had no choice but to fulfill your wish!¡±

    these words caused the players from the battlefield clan who were lying on the ground to spit out a mouthful of blood¡­ damn it, you can¡¯t humiliate me like this¡­

 Chapter 36

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after lao yao left, the fierce tiger lying on the ground asked the sorcerer not far away, ¡°brother cannon, what should we do now?¡±

    what else could he do? the mage gritted his teeth and chose to return to the city to revive. a white light rose and the mage¡¯s corpse instantly disappeared from the spot. the others could only follow him back.

    the main city, van tarost, was as lively as ever. during this period of time, newbies kept walking out of the novice village and joining the main city. the crowd was bustling, which was enough to prove how popular the era of the gods was.

    at this moment, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded on the crowded streets of the city, accompanied by a huge tremor on the ground. the players were shocked and did not understand what had happened.

    before they could react, a group of dark elves¡¯ cold-blooded cavalry riding giant lizards charged over from afar with an unstoppable momentum!

    the streets were suddenly in chaos. players were afraid of being accidentally injured, so they quickly dodged to the side. this way, the already crowded streets were filled with screams in an instant. who knew how many people had their feet stepped on at this moment? how many female players had been molested? who knew how many men had taken the opportunity to molest female players? they were severely punished by the system¡¯s female protection system¡­

    ¡°what¡¯s going on? why are the npc guards making such a big move?¡±

    after the cavalry rushed over, the players began to discuss among themselves. they could not help but be curious. they followed closely behind the cold-blooded cavalries, wanting to see what was going on.

    as the cavalries moved, the number of gamers following behind them increased. seeing such a huge formation, the gamers were extremely excited. could it be that the first major event in the game was going to be witnessed by them?

    the cavalry¡¯s target was the resurrection point in the s city square. it was unknown why they reacted so quickly. the five red-named players from the battlefield clan who had been killed by lao yao wanted to run after they were resurrected, but they were immediately surrounded by the cold-blooded cavalry.

    ¡°don¡¯t resist!¡± little steel cannon gritted his teeth and said to his companions behind him, ¡°these npcs are all level 60 elites. fighting with them is simply courting death!¡± after saying that, he recalled the hateful look on lao yao¡¯s face when he left. he thought hatefully, ¡°damn it, i¡¯ll remember you!¡±

    the five of them were quickly arrested by the guards. what awaited them was prison time calculated according to their crime value.

    on the other hand, the surrounding players were very satisfied. they did not expect that not long after the game¡¯s server opened, someone would go to jail for a red name and cause such a huge commotion from the system.

    what a big scene! the players began to discuss. although they did not understand what was going on, there were actually red names who dared to return to the city to revive. they were simply like fools. they had to discuss it.

    ¡°did you guys see them?¡± a player shouted. ¡°they look like those five scumbags from the battlefield clan?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right, it¡¯s them!¡± a player nodded strangely and agreed with him. ¡°what¡¯s going on? are these guys stupid? they still dare to return to the city with red names. aren¡¯t they waiting to be jailed?¡±

    ¡°who knows!¡± another player said disdainfully, ¡°in my opinion, these guys are asking for it. they¡¯re so arrogant usually. they kill people and snatch monsters randomly. it would be strange if they don¡¯t have red names. it¡¯s normal for them to be arrested and sent to jail!¡±

    these words immediately caused many players to nod in agreement. this battlefield clan did not have any strict management measures when recruiting members, so the quality of the members of the battlefield clan was indeed not very good. it could be said that there were all kinds of people. however, these guys were quite smart. they never provoked large guilds and only bullied independent players. therefore, although the people who were bullied by them were furious, there was no way to take revenge on them.

    now that the five battlefield clan¡¯s red names had been captured and thrown into jail, these players immediately felt great!

    ¡°sigh, take a guess. how did these guys die?¡± a player suddenly asked curiously, ¡°these idiots, could they have lured the boss, only to be killed and sent back?!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s possible!¡± everyone nodded.

    however, at this moment, a shout suddenly sounded in the city¡¯s regional channel, allowing all the players in van tarost city to hear it.

    ¡°brothers of the battlefield clan, help us take revenge! that fellow called lao yao, we¡¯ll kill him every time we see him!¡±

    the person who shouted was fierce tiger. it was unknown if he felt that he could not take this lying down, but he shouted at the top of his lungs. although the players were imprisoned and locked in a small black room, it did not stop them from chatting in the city channel.

    of course, such a shout was indeed convenient and could be heard by the entire city. however, the price was also not cheap. a shout actually cost one gold coin! players nowadays did not seem to have that much spare money to shout. fierce tiger¡¯s shout was indeed very valuable¡­

    however, this shout caused a huge uproar among the players outside.

    ¡°f*ck! who is this lao yao? he¡¯s so awesome! he actually provoked the battlefield clan not long after the server opened?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right! although the battlefield clan isn¡¯t much, it¡¯s still a clan after all. it¡¯s very difficult to deal with! this lao yao is in trouble now!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s not right. why did the fierce tiger only mention one person¡¯s name? could it be that this person stopped them from killing the boss?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s impossible. with their temperament, even if they suffer a loss, can¡¯t they just kill their way back? why do they need to borrow the power of the clan?¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right! i¡¯m guessing that these guys might be trying to bully independent players again. in the end, they encountered an expert and were directly killed by him. later on, they thought that they couldn¡¯t defeat him, so they wanted to use their clan¡¯s strength to help chase after him!¡±

    the last player who spoke did not know that his wild guess was actually close to the truth. however, now that battlefield@fierce tiger and the others did not mention what had happened, it made the entire matter seem confusing.

    many players who did not know the truth posted on the forum.

    ¡°evil will be punished! the five red names of the battlefield clan have been captured!¡±

    ¡°resentment is hard to appease! battlefield@fierce tiger has issued a declaration of pursuit!¡±

    ¡°i beg for the truth! brother lao yao, please show yourself!¡±

    ¡°i worship brother lao yao! you¡¯re our idol! believe in brother yao! your name will never be red!¡±

    ¡°the day i met the red names! the story between brother lao yao and i that i have to tell¡­¡±

    ¡°brother lao yao and my mother¡­¡±

    regardless of whether it was a guild or a clan, in the current era, many gamers would pay close attention to this matter. once there was any movement, it would immediately cause a wave of discussion. then, they would be labeled as the ¡°some gate incident¡± and discuss it fervently.

    all in all, people were still too free¡­

    lao yao did not know that this matter would be changed by the roar of battlefield@fierce tiger. he also did not know that he had become the protagonist of the ¡°genius gate¡± incident. he was not in the city and was currently working hard to complete the main storyline mission. naturally, he did not hear battlefield@fierce tiger¡¯s declaration of pursuit. he did not know that the situation would develop so quickly.

    lao yao was not an experienced online gamer. he did not know the power of the internet at all¡­

    coincidentally, yang yongle was bringing the girls from the silver maple leaf studio to level up in the wild map. they wanted to reach level 15 as soon as possible and learn life skills in the dungeons. then, they would start the studio business as soon as possible. hence, when the system notified them that the game time was up, they returned to the city and went offline.

    as for what happened in the city today, they did not know for the time being¡­

 Chapter 37

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    currently, lao yao and the girls in the studio had a rather regular lifestyle. they would wake up in the morning and have breakfast together. then, they would go online to play the game. at noon, they would go offline to eat. in the afternoon, they would continue playing the game until around 10 pm. when the game time was up, they would leave the room almost at the same time and prepare to eat supper¡­

    this kind of life made lao yao feel unprecedentedly fulfilled. he finally found something to do. it was much better than staying in his room and watching movies all day long. furthermore, there were fewer disputes with the tenants, and his ears were much quieter.

    after going offline, lao yao took a shower before putting on his clothes and leaving the room. not long after he sat down in the living room, the diligent didi had already prepared night snacks.

    today¡¯s night snacks were relatively simple. it was just a bowl of noodles, but the same fragrance overflowed. the well-defined noodles were suffused with a pleasant oily glow. not only was there green onion sprinkling on it, but there were also a few pieces of cold chicken left over from the afternoon. it looked so tempting.

    lao yao was absolutely satisfied with meng di¡¯s craftsmanship. he did not say much and immediately started to snore.

    ¡°wow! no way!¡± ning jing, who followed behind, also received the night snacks that meng di brought to her. however, when she saw the cold chicken in lao yao¡¯s bowl, ning jing immediately shouted, ¡°didi! why is there meat in uncle pervert¡¯s bowl but not mine?! alright! tell me, are you having an affair with him?!¡±

    meng di¡¯s face turned red from ning jing¡¯s unrestrained words. she secretly glanced at lao yao, who was giggling foolishly, and spat at ning jing. ¡°wretched girl! what are you talking about! didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to lose weight? i didn¡¯t add meat because i listened to your instructions!¡±

    ning jing muttered to herself foolishly, ¡°really? did i tell you that? why can¡¯t i remember? also, are sister lele and the others losing weight together? why do they have no meat either?¡±

    lao yao almost laughed out loud. didi was giving him special treatment! last time, because of the bathroom incident, lao yao had been worried that didi would be angry. however, looking at it now, she wasn¡¯t. on the contrary, looking at this little girl¡¯s shy appearance, she seemed to have a good impression of him!

    hence, lao yao felt that there was no one more handsome than him in the world! he could not help but sigh. life! it was just like the chicken that floated above the noodles. it was precisely because of it that the entire bowl of noodles looked so different.

    looking at lao yao¡¯s smug look, ning jing scolded him hatefully, ¡°what are you laughing at! be careful not to choke to death! it will become a great omen!¡±

    after saying that, she placed the bowl in front of lao yao with a bang. ning jing also sat down opposite lao yao and picked up her chopsticks to eat the noodles.

    lao yao was used to teasing ning jing, and this time was no exception. he was in a good mood. when he heard the jealousy in ning jing¡¯s words, he was about to look up and tease her when he accidentally saw a scene that made his blood boil.

    ning jing was wearing a loose t-shirt today. when she lowered her head to eat the noodles, the t-shirt naturally dropped a little because of gravity. it was not much, just enough for lao yao to see a white lump of flesh¡­

    ¡°pfft!¡± lao yao spat out a mouthful of noodles. he, who happened to have noodles in his mouth, was stimulated by the sudden beautiful scenery. the noodles entered his mouth but came out from his nose!

    if my ears and mouth are connected, i think i might be able to get a few noodles out of my ears¡­

    ¡°great omen! it¡¯s indeed a great omen!¡± lao yao repeated this sentence, but his eyes could not move away.

    ¡°what are you doing?¡± ning jing was attracted by the strange sound that lao yao made. she looked up and realized that lao yao¡¯s gaze was fixed on her chest.

    when she looked down, ning jing immediately understood what had happened. she immediately pounced at him with a roar¡­

    after yang yongle went offline, she also took a shower in the bathroom in her room. however, she came out a little late. as a result, the moment she came out, she realized that ning jing, this little chili, had actually thrown herself into lao yao¡¯s arms and pulled lao yao¡¯s face to the sides with both hands!

    as for our comrade lao yao, his originally manly face had now become a 2d flat picture. a strand of noodles was still hanging in his nostrils, swaying¡­

    yang yongle understood what was going on at a glance and chuckled. he teased ning jing, ¡°eh? when did you guys become such good friends? you¡¯ve already reached the point of physical intimacy?!¡±

    ¡°pui, pui, pui! how is that possible!¡± ning jing jumped up from lao yao¡¯s body like a frightened rabbit. she tidied her wrinkled clothes and said disdainfully, ¡°no matter who it is, i won¡¯t sleep with this perverted uncle!¡±

    the group of girls who had been watching the joke from the side finally couldn¡¯t help but laugh in unison when they saw ning jing refuse to admit it, making ning jing even more embarrassed.

    ¡°ah! lele! thank goodness you¡¯re here!¡± lao yao turned around and greeted yang yongle. ¡°benefactor! you¡¯ve finally saved me! i¡¯m extremely grateful!¡±

    ¡°you¡­ i¡­ i think you¡­ should remove the noodles from your nose first before you speak¡­¡± looking at lao yao¡¯s appearance, yang yongle only felt the muscles on his face twitching violently, and his stomach seemed to be in slight pain¡­

    after finally finishing their night snacks, yang yongle said to lao yao, ¡°what level are you now? have you found a racial mentor to accept the main mission?¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t mention it!¡± lao yao looked like he was pooping. ¡°the mentor of the shadow race is in a godforsaken place like the death swamp. i actually completed the mission to help him kill monsters. now, he wants me to escort him back to the main city. not only does this guy not have any combat strength, but he even walked towards a place where there are many monsters. it took me a long time to send him back. in the end, this guy actually didn¡¯t give me any talent points as a reward and only gave me some experience points!¡±

    ¡°no way!¡± yang yongle was a little surprised. ¡°we got a talent point in the first few steps of the mission. how can you not have any?¡±

    ¡°i don¡¯t know either!¡± lao yao shook his head and said, ¡°the subsequent missions can only be accepted at level 15! i wonder what kind of insane mission it will be at that time¡­¡±

    ¡°forget it! look at it on the bright side!¡± yang yongle comforted him. ¡°your character attributes are so strong, and your race is so special. it¡¯s reasonable for the system to give you some difficult missions!¡±

    lao yao thought about it and agreed.

    ¡°your next mission is to level up as soon as possible!¡± yang yongle continued, ¡°when you reach level 15, you can enter the dungeon with ning jing and the others. the equipment of the team has to be supplied first. you might need to clear the dungeon once a day. with your high attack output, don¡¯t waste it!¡±

    lao yao also understood that a small studio like silver maple leaf had limited abilities. although the equipment in the era of the gods was valuable, they had to ensure that the team¡¯s equipment could keep up. the rest could only be used to trade with other players. if they could not enter the dungeon early to farm equipment, when the players could clear the dungeon themselves, the equipment would not be worth much.

    it seemed that he had to understand the instance dungeon settings of the era of the gods.

    a lot of the official information seemed to only be released after the players reached a certain level. this was indeed criticized by many people. however, some leveling maniacs seemed to be about to reach level 15 now. they should release this information, right?

    at the thought of the problem of experience, lao yao could not help but want to curse. the experience required to level up in this game was really too high. before lao yao went offline today, he was just at level 11, and the experience needed from level 11 to level 12 was actually 144,000! 140,000 experience points! it was an exponential increase, and the experience from killing small monsters was terrifyingly low. a level 13 fishman only gave lao yao 300 experience points. this meant that lao yao needed to kill 500 small monsters to level up. it was really painful!

    just as lao yao was letting his imagination run wild, he heard ning jing¡¯s loud cry. ¡°everyone, come and watch the news!¡±

 Chapter 38

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    ¡°what news are you watching?¡± lao yao stood up curiously and walked towards the sofa.

    there was a huge 3d projection television in the living room. after the girls ended their games, they liked to hug their pillows and curl up on the sofa to watch romantic dramas. furthermore, they severely deprived lao yao of his right to watch television. under the absolute disadvantage of 1:12, lao yao had no choice but to compromise in grief and indignation.

    now, ning jing, who was known as the ¡°television killer¡±, was actually watching the news unlike usual. this made lao yao feel a little curious. what kind of news could make the girls stare at it intently?

    ¡°dear viewers, welcome to focus of the day!¡± the host, who was very familiar to everyone in the country, was introducing someone to everyone with a smile. ¡°today, we have the honor of visiting galaxy international¡¯s swiss headquarters and speaking to the ceo, mr. lin! here¡¯s the interview!¡±

    ¡°the focus of the day is actually broadcast at this time?¡± lao yao scratched his head and asked curiously, ¡°also, galaxy international? isn¡¯t it the company above the game era of the gods?¡±

    just as lao yao was feeling puzzled, wang ke suddenly said, ¡°the focus of the day is broadcast live. it¡¯s 10 p.m. here and around 4 p.m. in lausanne, switzerland!¡±

    lao yao was enlightened. it happened to be daytime over there. no wonder the interview was carried out at this time¡­

    as the news continued, lao yao and the group of girls became interested after hearing the keyword ¡®era of the gods¡¯ from the ceo of galaxy international, mr. lin. they played this game to begin with, so they naturally paid attention to all information related to the game.

    on the television, this chairman with the surname lin was narrating the various epoch-making meanings of the game era of the gods. lao yao asked the girls curiously, ¡°strange, isn¡¯t game advertising prohibited in our country? why are they actually using such a big segment as the focus of the day now? and they¡¯re even talking about the game era of the gods?¡±

    yang yongle shook her head and said, ¡°it¡¯s not really banned. it¡¯s like this in our country. game advertisements can¡¯t pass the political review of the television station. it¡¯s kind of an unspoken rule! however, it¡¯s indeed as you said. it¡¯s rare to interview so openly and the content is basically about games.¡±

    ¡°there¡¯s more!¡± ning jing interrupted. ¡°i don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed, but game advertisements have been everywhere about the era of the gods recently. the effect is amazing. a large number of people walk out of the novice village every day! even the romance dramas we watch have game advertisements in the middle. this publicity campaign is very fierce!¡±

    lao yao was a little puzzled. this was clearly different from the attitude of the country in the past.

    ¡°the era of the gods has been open for a week!¡± on the television, director lin smiled and said, ¡°here, i¡¯ll report a number to everyone. there are a total of 500 million registered accounts in the era of the gods. the highest number of players online worldwide is 300 million. moreover, the number of players entering every day is still increasing in the millions! this number was given by the world data surveillance center. it¡¯s absolutely reliable!¡±

    lao yao and the girls were all shocked. this number was too scary!? the game they were playing was actually so popular?

    ¡°now, let me reveal a little bit of information to the players!¡± director lin smiled and said, ¡°soon, the game will undergo its first update. at that time, a lot of new content will be opened. the most important thing is the currency exchange mechanism!¡±

    ¡°the currency exchange mechanism!?¡± the host asked in surprise, ¡°is it like in some novels, where game coins are exchanged into real currency?¡±

    ¡°yes, more or less!¡± director lin nodded and said, ¡°but there¡¯s still a difference, because we don¡¯t intend to open unlimited exchange! in other words, it¡¯s impossible to convert game currency into real currency without limit. here, i want to explain this exchange mechanism to everyone.¡±

    ¡°after every fixed period of time in the game, the amount of game currencies produced in the server during this period will be calculated and reported to the head office for review. according to a specific ratio, the head office will allocate a portion of the money from the world bank to the country where the server is located to support the virtual item transaction!¡±

    the host looked shocked and asked, ¡°will your company¡¯s actions cause the risk of an economic crisis? you have to know that virtual currencies are not the same as real currencies. their value is also different. it¡¯s very dangerous to equate the two!¡±

    ¡°don¡¯t worry about that!¡± director lin smiled and said, ¡°from the next update onwards, the game will enter the charging stage. this portion of money allocated by the head office is actually produced by the players¡¯ consumption of the game. after deducting the company¡¯s operating expenses and taxes, the profits will be taken out and given back to the players. it can be said that the value of this is still created by the players in reality. it¡¯s just that it has entered the distribution segment again. the company actually doesn¡¯t intend to make money by doing this. the era of the gods is just another form of free game. as we advertised, as long as you have the ability, you can still earn the money of other players in the game. be it the virtual currency or the real currency, the two are the same!¡±

    ¡°of course, we will also adopt a real-name certification system to strictly monitor the flow of every sum of money. we will also strictly counter money-laundering and maintain the financial stability of the game!¡±

    in the following interview, director lin answered some other questions, but none of them were as shocking as the above. everyone who watched this interview was inexplicably amazed by galaxy international¡¯s generosity. at the same time, they realized the huge power of the galaxy financial group.

    500 million players! even if one person exchanged for one yuan, galaxy international would have to fork out 500 million yuan! how many gaming companies nowadays could be so bold?

    some knowledgeable people lamented at galaxy international¡¯s sinister move. one could imagine that after this news was spread, more players would rush into the game. putting aside whether these players could earn galaxy international¡¯s money in the game, even the amount of game card consumption they had was a huge number. and wasn¡¯t it galaxy international¡¯s decision to give back the profits to the players?

    this seemed like a trap, but one had to admit that the advertising effect it could bring was absolutely astonishing. no player would think that they were worse than others. this world had never lacked fantasy talents. everyone would think in their hearts that they might be able to earn money in the game, right? there were definitely many people who entered the game with such thoughts!

    only a wealthy international financial group like galaxy international had the courage to make such an awesome advertisement. others could forget about it. if you want to imitate it, fine! take out tens of billions to show the players your strength first¡­

    in an instant, many ceos of gaming companies in the world decided to close their own gaming companies or think of ways to cooperate with galaxy international after seeing this interview. this was because they knew that after such an advertisement was released, no one would play their games anymore¡­

    finally, at the end of the interview, director lin used a promotional slogan to conclude: ¡°we support the embodiment of individual ability! as long as you want to, you can do it!¡±

    upon hearing this slogan, lao yao¡¯s heart could not help but skip a beat. thinking back to the free mode that he had activated, lao yao seemed to have gained some indescribable insights!

    after the girls watched the news intently, yang yongle finally couldn¡¯t help but jump up excitedly. ¡°yay! sisters! our decision back then was right! we must work hard to develop in the game!¡±

    ¡°that¡¯s right! work hard!¡± the group of girls was also extremely excited. they followed yang yongle and shouted loudly. they seemed to have already seen the way to realize their dreams in this news¡­

    lao yao smiled as he looked at their flower-like smiles. there were some things that were not easy to enlighten them with.

    lao yao wasn¡¯t sure if silver maple leaf studio would be able to grow and succeed in the game. he could tell from director lin¡¯s words that something was amiss. he was puzzled and didn¡¯t understand why galaxy international would use such a method to promote the game. even if it was really as lin said, and galaxy international¡¯s gaming company wasn¡¯t prepared to make money at all, why were they doing this? this didn¡¯t conform to the behavior of a business group at all.

    however, the girls from the silver maple leaf studio were currently in high spirits. lao yao could not bear to dampen their enthusiasm, so he could only take it one step at a time.

    in the end, one had to continue playing the game to understand its true meaning¡­

 Chapter 39

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    in the next few days, lao yao continued to level up in the death swamp.

    actually, it wasn¡¯t that lao yao wanted to stay in this godforsaken place. instead, it was because he discovered that the training grounds of the other maps were filled with people. it was just like the scene in the novice village!

    under such circumstances, there were countless pk incidents occurring every day. most of them were caused by fighting for monsters. it couldn¡¯t be helped. the places that were suitable for everyone to level up were always so harsh. the monsters weren¡¯t too high-leveled, their defense wasn¡¯t too strong, their hp wasn¡¯t too high, and there were enough of them. only then could it be called a leveling spot. everyone wanted to occupy such a place, and no one wanted to give it to others. thus, disputes arose.

    moreover, after entering the main city, some guilds, clans, and studios could gather manpower. often, these factions with large numbers would cause large-scale pks in order to occupy the entire venue. as a result, the leveling points could be said to be extremely chaotic. lao yao really did not want to participate, so he could only come to this death swamp to level up.

    this place had a fishy smell of mud and there would often be well-hidden swamps, and it was really uncomfortable to be in such humid weather. however, the only benefit was that the level of the monsters was high enough. there were very few players who came here to level up, so it was very suitable for solo players like lao yao to train alone.

    lao yao was now level 14. he was almost at level 15. at that time, not only could he continue with the main storyline mission, but he could also enter dungeons to farm equipment and learn life skills. at that time, the truly rich game content would gradually appear.

    previously, the five red-named players from the battlefield clan had dropped exactly five pieces of equipment. on average, each of them had dropped one piece of equipment. however, three of them were white-grade equipment that lao yao¡¯s assassin class could not use. lao yao had thrown them into the shop to exchange for money. the remaining two pieces of green-grade equipment were not considered good either. they had only added a few points to his attributes. it was better than nothing for lao yao to put them on.

    it couldn¡¯t be helped. although killing white-name and red-name players would drop equipment, the equipment drop order was from low to high. in other words, if you were wearing high-level equipment and low-level equipment, the most likely drop would be the low-level equipment. however, the chances of red-name players dropping equipment were much higher than white-name players.

    how should he put it? this setting seemed to encourage players to pk each other. however, as players¡¯ equipment levels gradually increased, such a setting began to protect players. after the later stages of the game, when the equipment was strengthened with gems, the equipment would be bound and could not be dropped. in that case, even if players wanted to earn money by killing people and snatching equipment, they would not be able to do so. their targets would casually wear a white-grade equipment and then drop it for them. anyway, it was not worth much. just take it! for players who wanted to do this, it was simply like spending money on potions for pk!

    lao yao did not know what the programmer was thinking. in any case, he did not want to rely on this method to earn money. he focused on farming monsters in the death swamp and waited for him to reach level 15 before leaving this godforsaken place.

    as yang yongle and the others had entered the main city earlier than lao yao and had been leveling up in teams, their speed was not slower than lao yao. they had already reached level 15 these few days and were discussing how to enter the dungeon.

    the level 15 instance dungeon was called ¡°hissing cave¡±. some people had already revealed the content on the forum and some online gaming websites. there were currently three difficulties in the instance dungeon. they were normal, nightmare, and hell! the maximum number of people who could enter was six, which was the number of a full party. it was said that no one could even clear the simplest normal difficulty level. one reason was the number of people who could enter, and the other was the limitation of equipment.

    it was said that there was a team that had gone the furthest. they rushed to the last boss, but they also fell there. after they posted the process on the forum, they attracted a lot of attention.

    the final boss was a swamp lizard! from the pictures, this swamp lizard actually had three heads. according to the players who posted it, not only did the swamp lizard have the ability to summon small monsters, but its attacks also had a petrification effect. the probability of petrification was also very high. the most amazing thing was that when the boss used its ultimate skill, if it was attacked by players, not only would it not lose hp, but it would also recover its own hp. the later it was, the more frequent the probability of using its ultimate skill.

    the settings of the instance dungeon were as such. the experience from the monsters that were cleared after entering the instance dungeon would not be given to the players immediately. instead, it would be stored. if the players could successfully clear the instance dungeon, the system would evaluate the completion rate based on the players¡¯ performance in the instance dungeon. if the completion rate was high enough, the exp saved would be given a bonus. on the contrary, if they could not clear the instance dungeon, they would not be able to obtain this exp.

    in short, if you could clear the dungeon, you would receive a high exp reward. if you could not get through, sorry, there would be nothing¡­

    such a setting made the players who saw the post exclaim that it was really abnormal. at the same time, they were also competitive. no one thought that they were inferior to others. this was determined by human self-esteem. therefore, every player was very interested in challenging the instance dungeon. once they could successfully pass the instance dungeon, they would be able to release the pictures of the completion. that would be a huge reputation!

    even yang yongle and the others had been studying the dungeon for the past few days. it could be seen that they were also interested in challenging the dungeon.

    if they could clear the dungeon, not only did it mean a lot of experience and equipment, but it also meant that he had successfully challenged himself!

    lao yao was naturally very interested. that was why he worked so hard to level up. one had to know that although it was fast to level up alone, it was also very boring. wasn¡¯t lao yao so patient to level up just to enter the dungeon to take a look?

    backhand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -420!¡±

    backhand sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -410!¡±

    shadow sword!

    ¡°critical hit! -1460!¡±

    it was another continuous combo. after lao yao killed the level 17 undead in front of him, he finally reached level 15 as he wished!

    during this period of time, lao yao had been killing monsters above his level to level up¡­

    lao yao knew that the proficiency was difficult to improve. therefore, during this period of time, he had been training the backhand sword skill. this was not only because of the double damage effect of the backhand sword when the target was stunned, but also because this was a skill he had created himself. it was natural for him to have feelings for it.

    moreover, the basic damage of the backhand sword was much lower than the forehand sword. if he wanted to increase the damage, he could only work hard to increase his proficiency and try to upgrade the backhand sword skill as soon as possible.

    ever since he saw director lin¡¯s words on the news that day, lao yao had a vague idea in his heart. however, when he wanted to verify it in the game, he realized that he did not know where to start. that feeling was still blurry, making lao yao unable to grasp it even if he wanted to several times.

    let¡¯s take it slow! sometimes, one needs inspiration to do things! after lao yao figured this out, he was temporarily relieved.

    after level 15, lao yao¡¯s attributes were as follows:

    character: lao yao

    profession: assassin

    level: 15

    strength: 40

    agility: 206

    intelligence: 33

    attack: 210~384

    attack power: 2.4

    physical defense: 36

    magic defense: 3

    health: 450

    energy: 100/100

    critical strike rate: 7%

    weapon in the right hand:

    sharp wolf fang (blue one-handed dagger)

    level for use: 10

    spirit attribute: attack 35~55

    +5 strength

    +10 agility

    soul attribute: attack power +1

    weapon in the left hand:

    sharp hunting knife (green one-handed dagger)

    attack: 10~20

    +5 agility

    equipment:

    agile light armor (green)

    level for use: 6

    physical defense +10

    agility +5

    health +50

    worn boots (white)

    defense: 2

    leggings of strength (green)

    defense: 4

    +1 strength

    +20 health

    this was lao yao¡¯s current attributes. he dealt extremely high damage, which made him secretly happy. after the five red names of the battlefield clan were killed, the reward was the green hunting knife that increased agility by 5, as well as the leggings that increased hp by 20. among them, the hunting knife was given by the hunter called wandering soul, and the leggings were given by the priest. wandering soul was originally coveting lao yao¡¯s weapon, but he did not expect to end up losing his melee weapon to lao yao. if it weren¡¯t for the fact that the hunter mainly attacked with long-range bows and arrows, the hunter would probably have cried to death.

    as for the priest who gave him the leggings, he was considered unlucky. his pk awareness was relatively good. when lao yao stunned the hunter beside him, he also understood that he, a priest, did not have much combat strength to fight against lao yao. therefore, he wanted to save the hunter from the stunned state first. in the end, he did not expect lao yao¡¯s attack power to be really abnormal. lao yao easily killed him, a blood priest, with two slashes. he even dropped a piece of equipment that was not bad for lao yao¡­

    during this period of time, lao yao had been thinking about entering the dungeon and also considering the problem of his equipment. as the assassin profession could increase attack power by adding points to strength, it was unlike the warrior, mage, and priest professions who could increase their hp by adding points to their strength. to assassins, hp had always been a weakness. therefore, lao yao had been thinking that if he entered the dungeon, he would probably have to get some equipment to increase his health points¡­

 Chapter 40

    translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

    after he contacted yang yongle and the others and they knew that lao yao had successfully reached level 15, yang yongle and the others were instantly overjoyed and hurriedly called him back to the city for a face-to-face meeting.

    however, the journey to the swamp of death was still quite far. lao yao did not have a return scroll, so he could only rely on his legs to run back. when he returned to the city, ning jing was already impatient.

    ¡°hey, perverted uncle! what¡¯s wrong with you?! didn¡¯t you bring a return scroll when you went out to level up?¡± ning jing scolded him the moment she saw him.

    return scroll: teleport back to the nearest city. cannot be used in battle. release duration: 20 seconds.

    lao yao rarely played online games, so he naturally didn¡¯t know that such a convenient thing existed. in addition, he had always been training alone. if there was nothing else, he usually didn¡¯t return to the city. even when he went offline, he would leave directly from the leveling area¡­

    ¡°alright, alright!¡± when yang yongle saw lao yao¡¯s confused look, she understood what was going on. hence, she came out to help him out. ¡°it¡¯s good that you¡¯re back. now, let¡¯s discuss how to clear the dungeon!¡±

    after saying that, she looked around and said, ¡°there are too many people in the city. let¡¯s go offline and discuss!¡±

    everyone nodded and went offline.

    in the living room, all the members of the silver maple leaf studio had arrived. yang yongle found a small blackboard and a white chalk and started drawing on the blackboard. lao yao and the girls also went over and looked at the drawing she had made.

    ¡°this is a map from various materials. after combining them, i¡¯ve already drawn a map of the entire dungeon!¡± yang yongle said, ¡°let me explain it to everyone!¡±

    ¡°this hissing cave dungeon is actually an abandoned mine. although the map is not big, there are many forks. if you don¡¯t figure out the way, it¡¯s easy to get lost!¡± yang yongle pointed at the map and said, ¡°other than the small monsters, there are also many elite monsters in the dungeon. they are distributed in four directions. here, here, here, and here!¡±

    as yang yongle explained, she circled a position on the map. finally, she drew a large circle on the map and said, ¡°this is the range of the last boss. it¡¯s not fixed in one place. we need to find it! everyone probably knows the settings of the dungeon. if we can¡¯t pass it, there won¡¯t be any rewards. it can only be considered a waste of effort. therefore, we have to make the best preparations and try to pass it in one go.¡±

    at this point, yang yongle glanced at lao yao and said to everyone, ¡°this is my suggestion for the team composition this time. don¡¯t bother about the previous main team composition. let¡¯s make some changes. jingjing! as the only warrior, you have to participate! it¡¯s up to you to tank the monsters and attract aggro!¡±

    ning jing nodded obediently. ¡°okay, sister lele!¡±

    ¡°keke!¡± yang yongle called her name again. ¡°you¡¯re participating too!¡±

    ¡°alright!¡± wang ke replied indifferently and did not say anything else.

    ¡°lao yao! and you!¡± yang yongle smiled and said to lao yao, ¡°you are the strongest dps i have seen so far! how can we do without you?¡±

    lao yao was a little surprised by yang yongle¡¯s arrangement. ¡°a team of two assassins? will that work? then how will the remaining professions be arranged?¡±

    ¡°i plan to assign priests to the remaining three positions!¡± yang yongle¡¯s words were shocking.

    ¡°no way! sister lele!¡± before lao yao could speak, ning jing raised an objection. ¡°the remaining three positions are all priests. how can we do that? without a mage or a hunter, how can we lure the monsters!¡±

    ¡°i have my reasons for doing this!¡± yang yongle explained, ¡°based on the information we have, the final boss, the swamp lizard, is a monster with high physical and magical defense. one more mage and hunter won¡¯t be of much use. it¡¯s better to have them all as priests to increase the healing effect!¡±

    yang yongle looked at lao yao and said, ¡°lao yao! i¡¯ll rely on you this time! the three priests will focus on you. wang ke and ning jing are mainly to help you lure the monsters away at the critical moment. it can be said that this team is all for you alone!¡±

    lao yao and the group of girls were all stunned. they had not expected yang yongle to place all her bets on lao yao.

    seeing that ning jing was about to say something anxiously, yang yongle interrupted in advance, ¡°jingjing, don¡¯t panic first!¡±

    after saying that, she said to lao yao, ¡°lao yao, actually, i¡¯ve already noticed it the last time. if i¡¯m not wrong, you don¡¯t have a high critical strike rate. instead, you can control the critical strikes at will, right?!¡±

    this sentence stunned all the girls present. to be honest, although they were also amazed by lao yao¡¯s frequent critical damage in the past, they had never had such thoughts like yang yongle. now that they suddenly heard yang yongle say this, they all found it unbelievable.

    control the appearance of a critical hit? was that possible?

    lao yao also knew that even if he hid this matter from the girls for the time being, it would be exposed in the future. hence, he simply nodded and admitted it.

    ¡°that¡¯s good!¡± yang yongle revealed a knowing smile. ignoring the other girls¡¯ shocked expressions, she decided on her own. ¡°it¡¯s settled!¡±

    it seemed like yang yongle wanted to use his powerful damage output as a gambling stake! lao yao stroked his chin and smiled. however, he still felt very happy in his heart. although yang yongle lacked a little courage when it came to dealing with interpersonal relationships, he could still tell that this girl was very smart and talented when it came to arranging the strategy of the dungeon. what he had to do was to follow her arrangements and work hard to build her confidence through this dungeon. only by strengthening her expectations step by step would her style of handling things slowly change.

    after the discussion, everyone returned to their rooms and went online again. the time limit for the entire instance dungeon was four hours. they had to hurry up to complete it within the limited game time. otherwise, they would have to stop the progress of the instance dungeon because the game time set by the system was up. it would be a pity.

    this time, they still needed to make the necessary preparations. as yang yongle was not participating in this dungeon, she brought the other girls to help lao yao and the rest buy potions. although the potions sold in the shops were expensive and had low effects, in order to successfully complete the dungeon, they could only bear the pain and pay the price.

    the location of the hissing cave was at a corner of the southeastern map of the main city, the sorrowful plains. it was not far away, so lao yao and the rest rushed to the dungeon first. yang yongle and the rest of the logistics team would rush over later to bring them the potions. what lao yao and the rest had to do now was to wait there first.

    on the way, ning jing asked lao yao curiously, ¡°hey! uncle! can you really control the appearance of critical hits at will?¡±

    lao yao nodded and said, ¡°yes, that¡¯s a feeling! an inspiration! back then, i was constantly familiarizing myself with the scene of the critical hit. then, i imagined reenacting the scene from my own hands. only then was i able to control it. if possible, you guys can also try and see if it works!¡±

    wang ke turned around and glanced at lao yao, who was at the back, but did not say anything. however, lao yao clearly saw a hint of surprise in her eyes, as if she felt that it was very unbelievable for him to tell everyone the secret of this game, right?

    lao yao smiled and didn¡¯t say anything else, leaving ning jing alone. as she walked, she pondered over the meaning of lao yao¡¯s words. as for whether she could comprehend it or not, it was up to her.

    when he arrived at the location of the hissing cave, lao yao realized that this should be an abandoned mine of the dark elves. there was a slanted mine that emitted a blue-black glow. this was the entrance to the dungeon.

    around the mine, there were still many players who were preparing to enter the instance dungeon. it was bustling with activity, and the abandoned mine that was originally dead silent was filled with people.

    ¡°i¡¯m a priest at level 15 who has learned resurrection! i¡¯m looking for a party to enter the dungeon!¡±

    ¡°five waiting for one! we¡¯re still short of a powerful main tank warrior! if you think your skill level is not bad, please apply! fools, get lost!¡±

    ¡°powerful assassin, super dps! looking for a team to enter the dungeon. i¡¯ve experienced three dungeons! i¡¯ll definitely pass this time!¡±

    these players who were shouting were usually independent players. they did not have a fixed team, so they could only find people to form a team on the spot. whether it was in terms of teamwork or team composition, it was probably not ideal. if such a team was challenging an ordinary instance dungeon, it was possible to pass. however, if it was really as difficult as the forum said, these players would probably waste their efforts again¡­

    these solo players would be potential customers of the studio in the future. if lao yao could successfully bring the girls to clear the dungeon, after giving the equipment they obtained to his own people, he could sell some to these players to increase their chances of clearing the dungeon.

    this was how the game was. those who were capable were at the front, while those who were not could only stay at the back and drink soup¡­

    if solo players were like this, then what about the organized guild members and clans? these people were the complete opposite of solo players. they didn¡¯t shout loudly, but chatted in their respective friend channels, leisurely waiting for their teammates to meet up and then enter the instance dungeon. they all had fixed teams. if there was anyone who was most likely to pass the instance dungeon first, it would definitely be these guild and clan players.