Chapter Thirty: The First Kill Across the Entire Server

“Did you seriously think my agility couldn’t keep up?” Huang Yunshuo was furious. The bastard tried to pull a sneak attack, but he countered with a swift combo, landing two solid blows on Cock-a-doodle-roo.

-18! -8!

Unfortunately, the attack was too rushed to hit a vital spot.

Cock-a-doodle-roo still had around 50 health left, while Huang Yunshuo, after getting pecked once, was down to 71.

Even a critical hit wouldn’t finish me off, Huang Yunshuo thought with some relief. His main concern had been Cock-a-doodle-roo landing two consecutive critical hits, so he had made sure to keep his health high.

Since the first strike didn’t crit, this fight was as good as over.

Vital Strike: -38!

Huang Yunshuo stood his ground, raising his shield to absorb Cock-a-doodle-roo’s attack.

-62!

Sure enough, he still ate a crit. Staying calm, Huang Yunshuo slashed his sword across Cock-a-doodle-roo’s neck.

With a shriek, Cock-a-doodle-roo crashed to the ground with a thunderous noise, scattering a flood of copper coins and loot everywhere.

Bathed in white light, Huang Yunshuo leveled up to 11.

He immediately allocated all 5 free attribute points to Constitution. Fighting monsters with low health was just too risky—he genuinely felt it today. With his Strength already more than sufficient, increasing his health now was clearly the best investment.

Seeing his health rise from 120 to 145, Huang Yunshuo smiled in satisfaction.

[Server-wide Announcement: ekT92034 Beginner Village players Dimwit (Lv11) and Morning Dew Frost (Lv8) have cleared the Disaster-level “Beginner Village Redemption” instance, successfully slaying the Rooster Projection Cock-a-doodle-roo! From this moment, the Beginner Village General Store will restock 1,000 PvE Chicken Feather Dusters (Atk 5) every 10 minutes, priced at 10 copper coins each, with a 120-minute duration. Happy shopping!]

[Server-wide Announcement: As players Dimwit and Morning Dew Frost are the first on the server to slay the Rooster Projection Cock-a-doodle-roo, each is rewarded with 1,000 copper coins, a random level 10 white-grade piece of equipment, and the “Chicken Slayer” title (3 days). As the main damage dealer and finisher, Dimwit receives an additional random melee universal skill book and 1,000 more copper coins.]

“Your Adventure Badge has leveled up to Lv2. An extra 100 copper coins have been sent to your inventory. Please check your bag.”

Adventure Badge: Lv2.

Description: A widely recognized credential among the Guardians’ Alliance, symbolizing an adventurer’s courage and deeds on Terra Firma. The higher the badge level, the greater the benefits and the more your strength and character will be trusted.

Experience gain: +2%
Movement speed: +2%
Inventory slots: +2
Daily supply: 200 copper coins (already claimed today)

“Damn, I’m so excited, I’m shaking. I could cry.”

Dazed by the server announcements, it took Huang Yunshuo a while to regain his composure. He forced down the urge to check his backpack and focused on sweeping up the loot before him.

“This unlucky bird even dropped the hand crossbow!”

He quickly picked up the hand crossbow that Morning Dew Frost had dropped, along with a pile of materials, a skill book, two white-grade pieces of equipment, and a fiery red gem, then swept up all 1,000 copper coins scattered on the ground.

Clink.

Huang Yunshuo exited the instance. Near the instance NPC, a three-to-four-meter-wide space had cleared, surrounded by a dense crowd of silent players, all watching him with admiration and envy.

“So many people,” Huang Yunshuo gasped. The whole hillside was a sea of heads—there must be thirty or fifty thousand here. Did half the players from the beginner village come to watch?

“My hand crossbow dropped!” Morning Dew Frost had been waiting outside the instance. Seeing Huang Yunshuo, she rushed over, clearly anxious he might forget to pick up her crossbow.

This was a piece of equipment Huang Yunshuo had given her, and she truly cherished it—it had a fast firing rate and decent attack power, and more importantly, it could automatically replenish arrows. Out in the wild, with this weapon, she could roam free without ever needing supplies.

“Don’t worry,” Huang Yunshuo said, opening the trade window and placing the crossbow inside. “Want to see what Cock-a-doodle-roo dropped?”

“No need.” Morning Dew Frost relaxed the moment she saw her crossbow, breaking into a gentle smile. “I’m already grateful you brought me onto the server-wide announcement, and I didn’t really help. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.”

Huang Yunshuo was easygoing—since she didn’t want anything else, he wouldn’t insist. Morning Dew Frost had already gotten huge rewards from the server-wide announcement; the ticket price of a million credit points was more than worth it.

He still had instance runs left for the day, but not much time had passed—less than half an hour in total. There was still plenty of time before he had to log out.

“I’ll clear my remaining runs, then come find you.”

Morning Dew Frost activated her "Chicken Slayer" title and disappeared from view.

Huang Yunshuo made his way through the sea of players, skirting around the patch of grass where the level 2 Stone Tortoises spawned. Ahead, the valley was dotted with rabbits of every color. He stopped and began checking his spoils.

He’d gained 3,000 copper coins, plus the 400 split with Morning Dew Frost; now he had a fortune of 3,400 in total.

Rage Gem (Lesser):
Socket: All weapons
Effect: Increases rage gain rate by 10%
Combine nine lesser rage gems to create a medium rage gem.

This fiery red rage gem could significantly boost rage gain, allowing for more frequent use of rage skills—a fantastic find!

At the level 2 Stone Tortoise area, sluggish gem shards could also drop, but at a very low rate. With so many players farming them, chances of getting one were slim. Gems in Reforged Era were clearly rare.

A complete lesser gem like this was especially precious. Just imagine socketing it into a rocket launcher—wouldn’t that be glorious?

A rage gem plus a sluggish gem—he could probably blow enemies’ heads off!

Huang Yunshuo was filled with anticipation.

“Chicken Slayer” Title (3 days):
While active: +1 melee physical penetration
While active: +10% experience gain
While active: +10% rage gain rate
While active: Skill unlocked—Charged Assault

Charged Assault: Grip your weapon in both hands and charge up for 1 second, then dash 10 meters forward. During the dash, gain Super Armor (10% damage reduction), movement speed +200%, and attack all targets in your path. Damage starts at 100% and decreases by 10% for each subsequent target. Cooldown: 300 seconds.
Mana cost: 8

“Holy crap, this title is insane!”

Huang Yunshuo clutched his chest in shock, barely able to breathe.

If only the title could be permanent, he thought, he’d be unstoppable.

He didn’t care much about faster experience gain, but the rage gain boost was incredible—if it stacked with the rage gem, and if others needed six hits to fill their rage bar, he’d only need five.

Physical penetration was a fearsome stat in any game. It dealt true damage, ignoring almost all defenses and statuses and boosting physical damage. One point of penetration was roughly a 5% damage increase, unaffected by defense or status.

Huang Yunshuo’s stats were already strong, so even a single point of penetration would translate to significant extra damage.

With his current attack of 28–31, each strike would deal an extra 2.8–3.1 damage thanks to this stat.

Later on, to counter high enemy penetration, all one could do was stack damage reduction or true defense.

As for Charged Assault, it was clearly the same skill Cock-a-doodle-roo had used to charge at Morning Dew Frost. While slightly watered down, it was still imposing and cool.

It could be used for crowd control, closing distance to distant foes, or as an escape tool.

Three hundred percent speed! With Huang Yunshuo’s agility, that dash would be absolutely explosive.