Chapter Eight: The Chick’s Hat

“Idiots!” Huang Yunshuo cursed. You fools with barely 8 points of strength, coming here to block someone with 23 strength? With a single shoulder, he sent several players flying and swaggered out of the crowd, leaving behind a group of indignant players.

“That idiot definitely has something fishy going on. Why is his strength so high? Report him, let’s report!” They often got pecked to death just to grind the chicks down to 3 or 5 HP, yet this idiot could take off seven or eight HP with a single strike. How is anyone supposed to play this game? They’d lost right at the starting line.

“You moron, do you think this is one of those old games with GMs?” Huang Yunshuo almost burst out laughing. Seizing another opportunity, he landed a stealthy blow and finished off a wounded chick.

There were countless players in the leveling zone; even now, Huang Yunshuo hadn’t figured out how many people were in this tiny novice village. Yet by carefully searching, he could still often find wounded chicks, many of which ended up in his hands.

“That’s enough for now! 100 out of 150 experience, 30 copper coins, and 10 feathers are mine!” Huang Yunshuo left the leveling area and sent a friend request to “Snowfall.”

Tens of thousands of names appeared in the search bar. Huang Yunshuo picked out Ye Piaoxue’s avatar and sent the request. It took a full ten seconds before the request was accepted, and Ye Piaoxue’s incredulous voice came through: “Big Huang?”

Apparently, Ye Piaoxue had recognized him by his avatar. Huang Yunshuo chuckled awkwardly. “That’s right, it’s your Brother Huang.”

“You idiot, could you possibly pick a more ridiculous name?” Ye Piaoxue bit her lip in frustration. She was truly exasperated with Huang Yunshuo; with the richness of the Chinese language, he could have chosen any name, but he had to pick something so laughable. How was she supposed to walk around with him in-game?

“It was an accident! I’ll explain it to you later,” Huang Yunshuo muttered, then placed 10 copper coins in the trade window. “I’m kindly giving you some pocket money and you still curse me.”

Ye Piaoxue clicked to refuse the trade, puzzled. “How do you have so many copper coins? Anyway, I don’t need them for now.”

Huang Yunshuo couldn’t explain his situation to Ye Piaoxue right now. He wanted to say he wasn’t short on money, but since Ye Piaoxue was adamant, he put the coins away for now.

He bought a healing spray that restored 50 HP and hurried to the tailor’s shop, handing 20 chick feathers and 20 copper coins to Granny Sun.

Five minutes later, Granny Sun emerged with a fluffy hat and gave it to Huang Yunshuo.

“Adventurer, this is a chick hat crafted from those mischievous chicks’ feathers. If you can, please go and kill more of those troublemakers. I’ll have even greater surprises for you.”

Huang Yunshuo was thrilled as he held the chick hat.

Equipment—this was the first piece of gear he had ever seen.

Though the hat was fluffy on the outside, it was lined with leather inside, providing decent defense.

Chick Hat: Level 1
Defense: +2
Agility: +2

Both defense and agility increased by 2—this was superb! Agility aside, for someone like Huang Yunshuo whose defense was only 1, this was a godsend.

“Granny Sun has essentially given me a quest, hasn’t she? Kill more chicks, and on one hand, she’ll craft more equipment for me. On the other, maybe there’ll be extra rewards?” Filled with fighting spirit, Huang Yunshuo charged back into the swarm of chicks.

The palm-sized chicks had 50 HP, and their attacks were a terrifying 20. The current players couldn’t withstand more than three hits.

Even with 3 defense and 55 HP, Huang Yunshuo could only survive four blows. He never considered tanking the chicks head-on, not before and not now.

Addicted to picking off wounded enemies, he hid among the crowd, occasionally dispatching low-health chicks.

Because of their size, whenever Huang Yunshuo kicked a chick away, it couldn’t retaliate immediately, so he often managed to hit them twice in succession. Thus, any wounded chick targeted by him was as good as dead.

Swipe.

Radiant, Huang Yunshuo stepped away from the crowd and checked his stats.

Idiot, Level 3
Class: Frost Eagle
Race: Human, Blood Value: 0
Constitution: 12
Strength: 26
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 5
HP: 60
Mana: 25
Attack: 7-10
Defense: 3

“I wonder how many people have reached level 3 now?” Looking at his explosive stats, Huang Yunshuo grinned. Unfortunately, all the leaderboards only unlocked at level 10, so he had no information yet.

With 7-10 attack, a critical would be 14-20. High agility boosted damage, so max damage could reach 20-25—an intimidating figure.

Huang Yunshuo’s requirements for wounded chicks dropped further, meaning he could kill them even faster.

In most games, level 3 characters wouldn’t hunt level 1 monsters anymore, since rewards would drop sharply. But the monster design in “Reforged Age” was so twisted that Huang Yunshuo had no intention of leaving the chick zone for the level 2 monster area.

He’d take advantage of his current lead, build up his level and gear advantage, and worry about the rest later!

The extra copper coins he earned, he mailed to Ye Piaoxue and Sister Li Nanyin.

No one knew when the Bright Mirror would find the mothership. It might drift through space for three, ten years, or even a lifetime. Their little group had to stick together.

“Let’s go!” Huang Yunshuo rushed up to a chick with 19 HP and swung his club.

-9!

Having allocated 5 free attribute points to strength, Huang Yunshuo now had a whopping 31 strength. His swing nearly sent the chick flying, and when it crashed from two or three meters high, another -2 damage appeared above its head.

“That must be the extra damage from high strength.”

Seeing the chick had 8 HP left, Huang Yunshuo finished it off with a kick.

Leisurely, he picked up three copper coins and a chick feather, and under the dazed gaze of nearby players, continued searching for targets.

“Master, could you help me level up? I’m having a terrible day.” A tall, beautiful woman, scoring at least 90 points for looks and figure, approached pitifully, her delicate hands clasped together and pressed to her ample chest in a gesture of pleading, her eyes full of supplication.

Male players’ starter gear was just a pair of shorts, while female players got a bandeau.

The bandeau’s fabric was pitifully scant; it barely covered those with smaller chests. But for this mountainous beauty before him, it couldn’t possibly hide everything, exposing a breathtaking semicircle and a deep valley. Huang Yunshuo’s eyelids twitched at the sight.

“Ahem, what’s in it for me if I help you?” Huang Yunshuo’s heart skipped a beat as he asked.

The long-legged female player’s eyes instantly lit up, her face flushed as she replied, “Whatever you want, I’ll do. I’m just a delicate little girl, I don’t have the strength to resist.”

Huang Yunshuo nearly had a nosebleed on the spot.

He chuckled awkwardly and prepared to slip away. “I’m only interested in real life. Where are you from? If we can’t meet in real life, I won’t waste my time.”