Chapter Forty: Stand and Let You Strike at Will

“Damn it, who the hell is this guy!”
Nearby, players who were struggling desperately in a team to fight little white rabbits stared in disbelief at Huang Yunshuo, decked out in all-white gear, their eyes filled with confusion and suspicion.

“His attack is way too high, and his attack speed is insane. Feels like just a few swings from him could take me out.”

“This is totally breaking the game balance! We’re all around level 10, and we have to team up, constantly popping potions and rotating who takes the hits just to fight the rabbits, but he can solo them at full health?”

“I’m getting pissed. Shouldn’t we report him?”

...

“These idiots don’t seem to recognize me,” thought Huang Yunshuo, feeling a bit exasperated. He’d thought he was at least somewhat of a celebrity by now, but apparently, he’d been flattering himself.

Then it struck him: maybe when the “Chicken-Slayer Warrior” title activates, the effects create such a dazzling display that his ID gets temporarily hidden? Or maybe, with everyone’s display names in white floating above their heads, and him standing in the middle of a crowd of white rabbits, they couldn’t spot his name from their angle?

“But you know, this isn’t so bad,” he mused. Huang Yunshuo was a little annoyed at first not to be recognized, but he soon felt rather pleased. He wasn’t here to be famous anyway—what good would it do for everyone to know him? He’d only end up second-guessing everything he did.

Seizing the opportunity, he quickly hid his ID, grinning in satisfaction. “Ah, much better.”

“You bunch of losers, jealous because you’re weak?” Now that his ID was hidden, Huang Yunshuo grew bold, openly taunting a group of level 10 players.

“You bastard, you looking for trouble?” A party of five stormed over, bristling with indignation. At this stage, only a handful of people in each starter village had reached level 10. Each of them was a big shot in their own village.

Huang Yunshuo just smiled. “Come on, hit me. I won’t even move—if I so much as flinch, I lose.”

Without another word, the five players attacked, swinging their feather dusters at him.

“Attack failed. Current weapon has no PvP effect.”

All five received the same notification.

Watching them fumble to switch equipment right in front of him, Huang Yunshuo could barely suppress his laughter. Could they be any less professional?

At last, they all equipped beginner’s wooden clubs. Their attacks reached a new low—barely hitting for 15 at best, just over 10 at worst. On Huang Yunshuo, every strike either missed or ticked for a pitiful -1. He nearly burst out laughing.

“This ‘Reforged Era’ is hilarious!” Huang Yunshuo clutched his stomach, finding it impossible to keep a straight face. Defense stats were practically given away for free, while attack stats were severely limited. Wild monsters could hit for 40 or 50 easily, but players couldn’t even scratch each other’s defenses.

What was the point of this? To encourage everyone to unite and grind monsters, striving for greatness?

“Keep going,” Huang Yunshuo said, holding a 20-HP recovery spray, standing still with a smile. He only used the spray when his health dropped significantly.

After an entire minute of relentless assault and an entire spray bottle used up, his health was still full! About half their attacks were dodged outright.

“Having fun, you five losers?” Huang Yunshuo tossed aside the empty potion bottle, grinning as he slashed at the neck of a level 10 player who’d already turned yellow-named from previous aggression.

-32! -13!

Charge!

A warrior dashed at him, moving at high speed, trying to knock Huang Yunshuo flying.

“With my 95 strength, you want to charge me?” Huang Yunshuo sneered, bracing himself and swinging at the charging player’s exposed neck.

[Critical Hit, Double Damage, Defense Break, Lethal Strike]

Damn, so many effects?!

-320!

The player went down without a sound, instantly collapsing into a corpse.

Boom!

A huge drop: over a hundred copper coins, a pile of miscellaneous materials, and five pieces of equipment, including an 8-defense chestplate and a 6-defense iron shield.

Those two alone were worth 280 copper coins together!

“This poor fool—half his possessions just spilled out!” Huang Yunshuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In “Glacial Glory,” PK wasn’t encouraged and drop rates for gear depended on whether you were red- or yellow-named and the manner of death. Instant, violent kills had a much higher drop rate, and if you were yellow- or red-named—well, tough luck.

He bent down without hesitation, scooping up all the loot, glancing idly at the four remaining players.

“Damn…”

The four players stood frozen, then, after a long moment, cursed in terror and fled, not daring to come near Huang Yunshuo again.

Pocketing all the loot, Huang Yunshuo stroked his chin, a bold idea taking shape in his mind.

Killing players for loot was seriously profitable. He was sorely tempted to go on a spree!

With a great effort of will, he suppressed the wicked urge and turned back to slaughtering little white rabbits.

Not every attack was dodged, and occasionally a rabbit with 50 attack would land a hit, so before ten minutes had passed, Huang Yunshuo had used up all his recovery sprays and had to stop.

“If only I had a ranged attack right now,” he thought. Suddenly, he remembered his rocket launcher. Smacking his forehead, he cursed himself for being so preoccupied—others had already gone to the city to change class, but he’d forgotten the most important thing: the rocket launcher.

He hurried back to town and rushed into the materials shop.

He still needed 76 low-grade Eternal Crystal Shards, 3 refined steel, 1 basic engine, and 1 heat dissipation matrix for the rocket launcher.

The heat dissipation matrix was an array that required paying an array master to inscribe, and he had no leads on the basic engine for now. Huang Yunshuo focused his search on the refined steel.

The materials shop was packed with all sorts of components; he saw items essential for making thrusters and alloy armor, but not a trace of refined steel or even Eternal Crystal Shards.

“No other way. Back to the old method—hit the forum.” He rubbed his aching forehead. The system not having a global trade feature was a real pain—if you needed anything, you had to post on the forum and beg for help.

“Buying: 76 low-grade Eternal Crystal Shards, 3 refined steel, 1 basic engine.”

Feeling anxious, Huang Yunshuo posted his request and waited online.

His post was soon flooded with replies, most in awe of high-level players, others just spamming, and, annoyingly, some just there to flirt and mess around.

It wasn’t long before someone messaged him privately, sending a screenshot of five low-grade Eternal Crystal Shards—a significant amount for an individual. Huang Yunshuo only had five himself.

“Name your price!” he asked directly.

The reply was quick: “250 copper coins.”

That was almost 50,000 credits, so less than 10,000 credits per shard. Huang Yunshuo could just about afford it.

“Don’t you want credits instead?” he asked. He still needed those copper coins for other uses—after all, with so many needy viewers in his livestream, how else would he coax gifts out of them without a little trickery?

The reply came with a wry smiley: “Come on, stop playing dumb, big shot. You know how tough level 5 rabbits are—we spent all our copper coins on sprays and food. It’s killing us.”

“Fair enough.” Huang Yunshuo chuckled. Even he had burned through all his recovery sprays fighting little white rabbits.