Chapter 4: Exploiting A Bug
“Could it be that I overdid it?”
Fang Zhen lowered his head and looked at the shovel on the ground. At first he was a bit dazed, then he was filled with regret.
“My stupid mouth!”
He clearly already had some sense of it from his previous two thousand squats, and never expected the npc to be this intelligent and to break the pattern. Now he had to accumulate experience all over again.
However, Lin Qi did not care what Fang Zhen was thinking. His gaze went straight to the man and woman beside him.
“Your names and ages?”
“Twilight of the Gods, nineteen thousand years old.”
“Wu Shang, eighteen years old.”
“Mm, I like your honesty. Welcome to Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. I am your hall master, Lord Lin Qi. According to the rules, if you want to become honorable martial arts hall disciples, you must prove yourselves. Now you can go over there and pick a shovel you like, then go out, turn right to the small warehouse. You are limited to two hours and twenty minutes to dig five meters underground and open up a ten-cubic-meter space.”
Lin Qi nodded and wrote down their information in his notebook.
While Lin Qi was recording, Fang Zhen, who had been about to walk out of the room, suddenly stopped. He looked at Twilight of the Gods and Wu Shang in astonishment, his mouth hanging wide open as if he had discovered a new continent.
“You can play it like this?” Fang Zhen looked at Lin Qi, who was carefully writing, and felt like his intelligence was being challenged.
Whether it was Twilight of the Gods or Wu Shang, their reported ages were clearly nonsense, yet the intelligent npc not only believed them, but even rewarded them, allowing them to choose their favorite small shovels to go dig. That was no small boost to digging efficiency.
“Right, I forgot to tell you something.” Lin Qi looked at the three heading toward the small warehouse and paused. “You are the first batch of disciples recruited by Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and also the inheritors who will one day restore Obsidian’s glory. So, the first one to complete the proof will obtain the hall’s treasure, the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, which will help you achieve greater heights on the path of martial arts!”
What a scam. As if no one else knew how to say things like that!
When Lin Qi finished, the corridor, already quiet, became even more silent.
“The hall’s treasure? Did we trigger some kind of special event?” Fang Zhen’s breathing grew a bit rapid when he heard this.
The hall’s treasure!
Just the sound of it meant it was no ordinary thing. If he could obtain it, he would definitely be one step ahead when High Martial Arts Descend arrived.
“Based on my many years of gaming experience, we should have triggered a special event,” Twilight of the Gods said, pushing up imaginary glasses and calmly analyzing. “But the possibility we can complete it is very low.”
“What do you mean, the possibility of completing it is very low?” Wu Shang raised a brow at the side. “Isn’t it just the three of us competing?”
“That’s what you don’t know. I say it’s impossible to complete entirely because this game is too realistic. From the moment I entered, I’ve been observing it. Whether it is the feeling of the body or the dust on the ground that you can clearly see with the naked eye, there are no flaws or bugs. If it weren’t for you two being here, I would almost suspect I had crossed into another world,” Twilight of the Gods explained without holding back. “With our physical fitness at normal human level, forget two hours and twenty minutes. Even if we had five or six hours, digging out a ten-cubic-meter space underground would still be impossible.”
“Then doesn’t that mean we have no chance to get that Startling Spirit Breathing Technique?” Wu Shang said regretfully.
“No! We have a chance!” Twilight of the Gods said with great confidence.
“What chance?” Fang Zhen could not help pricking up his ears.
Digging out a ten-cubic-meter space underground in two hours and twenty minutes was obviously unreliable, unless they got twice the time or their physical fitness skyrocketed.
But neither of those seemed possible, especially the second. There was not even one method yet to improve physical fitness, and the only method available required completing a task first. It was simply unsolvable.
“We join forces!” Twilight of the Gods glanced back at Lin Qi and gave a faint smile. “This npc is really dumb and only follows preset procedures. I said I’m nineteen thousand years old and he believed it without the slightest doubt or questioning. That proves my point.”
“Join forces? How?” Fang Zhen asked curiously. “The npc told each of us to dig out a ten-cubic-meter space.”
Hearing this, Twilight of the Gods shook his index finger, then pushed up his nonexistent glasses again. “He said each of us must dig out a ten-cubic-meter space, but how is ‘each’ determined? I’ve said this game is extremely realistic. What if the three of us work together, each taking turns in the same spot to dig?”
“With our combined efficiency, we can definitely dig out ten cubic meters in two hours and twenty minutes. As for who gets the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, that’s even simpler. I told you, this game is realistic. No matter who obtains it, once they master it, they can pass it on for others to learn. That way, all of us can learn the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique.”
“Damn! In my whole life I’ve never admired anyone, little brother, you’re the first!” Fang Zhen was utterly stunned. It was as if a new world had opened up. He never thought a 100% virtual game could be played like this.
“Good, we join forces!” Wu Shang also nodded, giving Twilight of the Gods another look. “By the way, let’s get to know each other. I am Wu Shang, vice president of the Heavenly Might Guild from the wuxia game ‘Pilgrimage.’ If you’re interested in a guild, you can come to Heavenly Might. I can guarantee you at least core member treatment.”
“Heavenly Might Guild from Pilgrimage?” Fang Zhen was also shocked when he heard Wu Shang’s introduction, looking at her in disbelief.
In this era where virtual games are prevalent, the wuxia blockbuster Pilgrimage is a divine title with a global daily online player count of one billion. Even a random second- or third-rate guild in Pilgrimage has a valuation of over one billion and more than fifty thousand members.
As for those top-tier guilds, their valuations are in the hundreds of billions, and their member counts exceed one million, not much inferior to some world-class companies. Among them are five giant guilds, and Heavenly Might is one of them.
The core member treatment of Heavenly Might can definitely rival that of top tier professional competitors in Mecha Continent.
“So it’s Sister Wu. A pleasure. If I ever want to join a guild, Heavenly Might will be my first choice,” Twilight of the Gods said, also looking at Wu Shang with considerable surprise, while at the same time forming a new review of the game High Martial Arts Descend.
Pilgrimage stands as an emperor-like existence in the virtual game world, and yet the vice president of Heavenly Might is not focusing on managing the guild, but has come to this new game, High Martial Arts Descend, and is even planning recruitment within it. That alone proved how optimistic Heavenly Might was about the future of High Martial Arts Descend.
While Fang Zhen, Twilight of the Gods, and Wu Shang were talking back and forth, everyone in the live stream room was stunned.
“A combined bug exploit card! They’re going to farm that npc like little leeks!”
“Brother Twilight, please accept my kneecaps.”
“Amazing! Only now, since I was born, do I know you can play games like this!”
“Hurry! Someone get me in there, I want to farm that npc.”
While the masses were in a frenzy of worship and discussion, Fang Zhen, Twilight of the Gods, and Wu Shang arrived at the small warehouse. The three of them took turns with the shovel, one dig after another, happily working and growing more powerful as they went.
