Chapter 306: Of Course, It’s To Give Her A Quick, Clean End
“I’m in! I’m in! A full month of physical training and grinding digging techniques really paid off!”
“So this is inside the game? These five senses are absolutely insane!”
“Newbie Crushing Stone Fist, Leopard Shadow Steps, and basic Meditation Technique have all reached proficient level. Looking for a garrison to join!”
……
The sudden appearance of thousands of players in the underground lobby of the branch hall instantly turned the silent hall into a bustling scene. Even Fang Zhen and the others, who often came here to recruit newcomers, were shocked by the sight before them.
Before, at most a hundred people would appear in a day, and there were never enough new players to compete over. Now more than four thousand newcomers had shown up all at once, enough to make one’s eyes go dizzy from picking.
“As expected, only with a lot of players does it feel like a real game.” Lin Qi looked at the lively underground lobby and could not help recalling scenes from playing other virtual games in the past.
In any moderately popular virtual game, once you entered, there were more people than monsters. Although it was not that exaggerated here yet, it already had some of the feel of other virtual games.
And these players would become the capital to rapidly strengthen the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
Then, following the lines he had prepared in advance, Lin Qi gave the newcomers an encouraging speech, calling on everyone to make more contributions to the development of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, and then handed out a copy of the first level of the Spirit Shocking Cultivation Method to everyone.
After that, he let them cultivate on their own. Lin Qi left the underground lobby and handed all these newcomers over to the veteran players.
“Heavenly Might is recruiting. If you want to sign up, come over here. As long as you pass the assessment, you can join. After that, we will provide smart watches and newbie equipment to help you quickly get through the novice period and reach the Martial Artist Realm.” Zhang Qing Wei, seeing many newcomers still at a loss, also started recruiting.
“The Machine God Defense Group is recruiting. In the Machine God Defense Group you can receive the best cultivation. The garrison has limited quotas. As long as your basic Meditation Technique has reached over 50 percent of entry-level, you can join. First come, first served. Once you become martial artists, you can go with the team to high-level maps for pioneering.” Fang Zhen also shouted loudly.
……
As one garrison after another began recruiting, more and more players signed up. In the crowd, more than a hundred people had gathered beside a lean young man.
“Boss Xing Kuang, this time we have a total of 336 people entering the game. What should we do next?” a bald man in his thirties reported respectfully.
“Only a bit over three hundred made it in?” Xing Kuang frowned slightly. Out of one hundred thousand game reservations, in the end only over three hundred had entered. High Martial Arts Descend was even more popular than he had expected. Fortunately, those who got in were all elites from the corps. He immediately ordered, “First we earn points and contribution to prepare for the later class change.”
“Boss Xing Kuang, I checked the strategy guide for this game earlier. If newcomers want to rise quickly, they should first go mining. Mining can both train basic martial skills and earn a considerable amount of points and contribution. Once strength and funds are sufficient, that is, after becoming quasi-martial artists, mastering Lightning Palm in the hall, and then purchasing a superconducting electromagnetic gun, they can head into the wilderness to grind monsters. By exchanging those monsters in the hall for points and contribution, they can quickly meet the requirements for class change.” The bald man explained in detail.
“Forget mining. We have many people, so we’ll directly go into the wilderness to grind monsters.” Xing Kuang thought for a moment, then had everyone use the starter points given by the game to buy some food and water. Carrying the alloy shovels given free by the martial arts hall, they set off for the wilderness to look for monsters, skipping the mining step.
After entering High Martial Arts Descend, he could clearly feel that this game was indeed extraordinary. The five senses were almost no different from reality, without the latency present in other virtual games. It felt as if he was truly in the real world.
In his view, this was a tremendous advantage for people like them.
As members of the consortium’s elite star armor corps, each one of them was an excellent soldier. What’s more, those entering High Martial Arts Descend this time were top experts among the elites, with rich combat experience, especially against monsters.
They had no idea how many terrifying monsters they had killed on that planet. In this near-real virtual game world, the monsters designed by the game manufacturers could not possibly compare to those horrors. Working together, killing them should be all too easy.
“Who are these newcomers? They’re so fierce they’re heading straight into the wilderness to hunt?” Yi Ye Fu Yun watched Xing Kuang and the others leave and could not help glancing a few more times.
The way Xing Kuang and his group acted was extremely professional. Ordinary players going to the wilderness usually brought nothing but weapons. But in a game as realistic as High Martial Arts Descend, wilderness exploration took a long time. Without preparing food and water, they would soon fall to hunger and thirst and become food for wilderness monsters.
The first time he went to the wilderness, he had not known this, which led to a complete team wipe during exploration.
“Big brother Yi Ye, can we go?” Can Dao Ru Xue, who had entered High Martial Arts Descend, asked with a hint of excitement in her eyes.
Before entering High Martial Arts Descend, she had thought it would be similar to Immortal Road Eternal, or even a bit worse. After all, Immortal Road Eternal was the latest peak game production in the country, something other virtual games could not compare to.
But after entering High Martial Arts Descend, she was truly stunned.
Not only did everything inside High Martial Arts Descend feel incomparably real, but even her left hand, which had been seriously injured in reality and always lagged half a beat in any virtual game, had now completely recovered.
Right now she really wanted to test this feeling of being in her peak state.
“Do we need any other preparation to hunt monsters in the wilderness?” asked Qian Ren E Gui, who had also entered High Martial Arts Descend, unable to resist speaking up.
From Yi Ye Fu Yun’s simple introduction just now, he already understood that to improve quickly in High Martial Arts Descend, they needed a large amount of points and contribution. Whether it was redeeming the hall’s monthly limited resources, using the hall’s functions, or exchanging for martial skills, all required large amounts of points and contribution.
Although he and Can Dao Ru Xue had joined the defense group formed by Yi Ye Fu Yun and could receive plenty of welfare from it, and Yi Ye Fu Yun even provided a Meditation Technique and powerful martial skills, if they wanted to speed up their cultivation, they still needed to hunt in the wilderness. At present, aside from events, this was the fastest way in the game to earn points and contribution.
“I don’t recommend you go now.” Yi Ye Fu Yun explained, “Generally, to hunt in the wilderness you should at least reach apprentice level and master Lightning Palm. Of course, having a powerful weapon is even better. That way you can easily break through monster hide and truly injure them. You just entered the game, so it’s best to cultivate to apprentice level first and then consider other things.”
After hearing this, Qian Ren E Gui and Can Dao Ru Xue decided to follow Yi Ye Fu Yun’s advice: raise their levels first, then go to the wilderness to grind monsters and make money.
For a while, Qian Ren E Gui and Can Dao Ru Xue, like most players, began learning the cultivation method, while Yi Ye Fu Yun even rented a primary training room to teach them the first level of the Spirit Shocking Cultivation Method.
However, as the two of them sat cross-legged and practiced, they soon felt something was wrong.
Before they could react, each could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood. Their faces instantly turned pale, and their lungs throbbed with intense pain.
“What… what is going on?” Can Dao Ru Xue stared at the blood she had coughed onto the ground, her face full of confusion.
She had followed the instructions of the first level of the Spirit Shocking Cultivation Method step by step with her breathing, yet ended up injuring her lungs. She really could not understand it. Did the game system bug out? She had clearly trained according to the method, yet still got hurt.
If the injury had been any more severe, she might have died. Even so, she felt extremely uncomfortable now; every breath hurt.
“This is normal. You’ll get used to it.” Yi Ye Fu Yun, who was watching at the side, also stopped studying the newly redeemed clothing and said with a smile, “Do you want me to guide you?”
“Is it normal?” After hearing this, Can Dao Ru Xue did not doubt him, since Yi Ye Fu Yun was an experienced player. She immediately asked, “Big brother Yi Ye, do you know how to solve this problem?”
“Yeah.” Yi Ye Fu Yun nodded.
“Then I’ll trouble you, big brother Yi Ye.” Can Dao Ru Xue let out a small sigh of relief. If this problem were not solved, her cultivation speed would definitely drop a lot. Fortunately, with a veteran’s guidance, she could avoid many detours.
At this moment, Qian Ren E Gui also looked curiously at Yi Ye Fu Yun, wondering how he would solve this cultivation problem.
Yi Ye Fu Yun, sitting cross-legged, simply raised one hand and slapped it onto Can Dao Ru Xue’s forehead.
Bang!
Can Dao Ru Xue’s head burst like a watermelon, her body instantly becoming a headless corpse that collapsed onto the training room floor.
“What… are you doing?!”
Qian Ren E Gui stared, dumbfounded, at the exploded head of Can Dao Ru Xue.
As a veteran player who had already cultivated to the third level of the cultivation method, the Bone Forging Realm, for Yi Ye Fu Yun, solving a first-level cultivation problem should have been easy.
If Yi Ye Fu Yun had only refused to guide them, that would have been one thing. But he had directly blown apart Can Dao Ru Xue’s head. What was that supposed to mean?
“Of course I was giving her a clean end.” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the extremely agitated Qian Ren E Gui, not understanding why he was so worked up, but still patiently said, “There is no shortcut to learning this cultivation method. Only through continuous trial and error and repeated practice can you improve. She is already seriously injured, and recovery would take too long. There also aren’t that many Type 1 Healing Potions. Dying and restarting is the simplest way. My palm was fast, accurate, and ruthless, guaranteed she didn’t feel a thing.”
“Is this how the game’s cultivation method is supposed to be practiced?” Looking at Can Dao Ru Xue’s headless corpse, Qian Ren E Gui felt his entire worldview had been challenged.
He had seen other virtual games where people sped up leveling by spending money, but as an elder of a traveling group, this was the first time he had seen a game’s cultivation method trained like this.
“Big brother Qian Ren, do you want me to help you too?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the even paler Qian Ren E Gui and offered proactively.
“This…” Qian Ren E Gui looked at Yi Ye Fu Yun’s smiling face and could not help hesitating.
He understood this was indeed a fast way to cultivate, but he still suspected whether the cultivation method in this game was really meant to be trained like this.
But before Qian Ren E Gui could speak, he saw himself exit the game…
“I died just like that?” Staring at the display inside the game pod, Qian Ren E Gui remained dazed for a long time, his heart filled with indescribable shock.
He had long known that Yi Ye Fu Yun’s strength was extraordinary, but he never expected their gap to be this great.
When Yi Ye Fu Yun blew apart Can Dao Ru Xue’s head, he had already been extremely on guard against him.
Even while asking his question, he had focused his spirit to the utmost. Even if the leader ambushed him, he believed he could sense it at the first moment. No matter how big their level gap, that would not change, because that was a limitation of the game: it would not enhance his neural reaction in any way, not even for max-level players.
Yet in front of Yi Ye Fu Yun, he had died before he could react. That reaction speed was simply inhuman.
If his own reactions were that fast, forget the leader; he would be confident even against those top figures acknowledged by the virtual game world.
Meanwhile, outside Chiyue Town, in a quiet withered forest.
“How is this possible!”
“Is this monster really prepared for newcomers?”
Xing Kuang stared fixedly at his companions being repeatedly killed by the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros, his eyes full of disbelief.
More than three hundred people were besieging a monster outside a novice town, yet were being completely crushed. Many of those who were gored had died before they could react. It was simply inconceivable.
He had not played many virtual games, but he knew that monsters outside novice towns were supposed to be prepared for beginners.
But this Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros not only had thick hide and frightening strength; its neural reaction speed actually surpassed that of the players. What was that about?
In other games, even the strongest monsters excelled mainly in attributes. Their reaction speeds were far inferior to players. Precisely because of that, players had the chance to win against stronger enemies.
But the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros was completely different. It surpassed them in every aspect. For new players, encountering it meant certain death.
“Could this be a special boss?”
Looking at his team, which had already lost more than ninety percent of its members, Xing Kuang felt that this Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros was very likely a world boss in High Martial Arts Descend. Otherwise there was no way to explain its terrifying reaction speed.
More than three hundred combat experts!
In any other game, they could take down a novice village boss. All these people were born with powerful spirits, had exceptional body control, and reaction speeds far beyond ordinary people.
Yet in front of the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros, their reaction speeds were a joke. When it attacked, they were doomed.
Aside from the possibility of a special boss, he could think of no other explanation.
As the more than three hundred members of the corps all died, the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros charged at Xing Kuang. Knowing he could not evade, he was about to clash head-on when a figure holding a spear suddenly appeared, grabbed his arm, and yanked him aside, pulling him out of the path of the charge at the last possible moment.
“I dodged it?” Xing Kuang looked in surprise at the figure before him.
It was a young man about one meter eighty tall, at most in his early twenties, wearing the silver-gray clothing of a player. His face looked somewhat dull, and he seemed much weaker than those martial artist players. Based on the game’s level division, he was at most at advanced apprentice level.
Yet this advanced apprentice had easily pulled him clear of the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros’s attack, with an astonishing reaction speed.
“Big brother, could you let our team have this low-level monster?” The dull-faced youth asked Xing Kuang awkwardly, “Our team has been searching outside for most of the day and hasn’t found a single one. If we still get nothing today, we’ll probably have to go mining to pay off our debts.”
“Are you sure you want to take on this monster?” Xing Kuang glanced at the five young men and women behind the dull youth and saw that they were mostly in their early twenties. Like him, they lacked the sharp, battle-hardened aura of veterans and were clearly just ordinary people.
“Han Xiong, why are you wasting time talking? Their team is already wiped out. This doesn’t count as kill-stealing. If we don’t finish it quickly, the other teams will show up!” a youth holding a battle saber shouted anxiously.
Before the dull youth could respond, the other five had already rushed in to surround and attack the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros.
“Charging it head-on? Are they insane?”
Watching the five youths actively engage, Xing Kuang was baffled.
The Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros possessed immense strength, far beyond what advanced apprentices could block. Meeting it head-on was suicide. It was like when their corps faced the monsters on that planet: with coordinated star armor they sought chances to strike from blind spots. In a direct confrontation, even star armor could not withstand many hits.
However, before Xing Kuang could finish speaking, he saw the saber-wielding youth clench his free hand into a fist and punch straight at the charging Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros.
Bang!
The Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros stopped on the spot as if it had slammed into a rock wall, completely unable to move.
The saber-wielding youth immediately swung his battle saber down, sending blood spraying from the beast. Although that did not affect it much and it turned to flee, the remaining four youths gave it no chance. They struck it one after another, each punch powerful enough to leave the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros unable to move for a moment, while all five repeatedly delivered finishing blows.
Whenever the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros tried a powerful charge, the five reacted even faster, their footwork shifting lightly to evade its rush, then following with another barrage.
In less than a minute, the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros was covered in hundreds of wounds and collapsed to the ground, utterly dead.
“It’s dead?”
“What technique was that?”
Xing Kuang was stunned by the scene.
Under the combined assault of more than three hundred experts, the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros had been unscathed. Yet now it had died at the hands of five youths. Even more incredible was that despite being clearly inferior in both speed and strength, through some unknown method these five had managed to bring their power and speed to the point that they could match the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros. It was unbelievable.
After entering High Martial Arts Descend, he had already felt how realistic the game was. In such realistic combat, he could not understand how these five had boosted their strength and speed so much. It was like a divine technique.
If the members of their corps could learn it, then when they returned to that planet in the future, dealing with the monsters there would undoubtedly be much easier.
“What technique?” Han Xiong looked at the shocked Xing Kuang in puzzlement and said, “Big brother, didn’t you learn Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps in the martial arts hall?”
