Chapter 45: Large Team Raid?
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall basement.
As Lin Qi finished his self-introduction and the new player task arrangements, all the newcomers and veteran players were stunned.
“What is going on? Weren’t we supposed to be digging holes?”
“Why is it learning a breathing technique this time?”
“Are we really this lucky? We get to learn a breathing technique for free right away?”
For a moment the newcomers cheered, while the veterans felt as if they had been stabbed in the back. They had worked hard digging for so long just to barely qualify to learn the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, yet now these newcomers did nothing and got to learn immediately. Comparing people to people really is maddening.
“This batch of newcomers is so fortunate. No digging, and they start off learning a cultivation method.” Yi Qiang Ba Jue looked at the line of newcomers registering and could not help feeling a bit envious.
Back then, in order to redeem the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, they had borrowed points from Fang Zhen so they could redeem and learn it as soon as possible.
“What is there to be envious about?” Saiwai Qiangke shot a glance at Yi Qiang Ba Jue. “Don’t forget, you came in a few days earlier than them. You are already a quasi-apprentice now, and you even have nearly a thousand square meters of blood essence rice under cultivation, plus the Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique. You are far ahead of these newcomers.”
“The spread of this breathing technique is probably the hall master following the game’s progression to decide future player tasks,” Twilight of the Gods said with a smile from the side. “This counts as a welfare policy for newcomers. After all, the earlier players always have an advantage, so there has to be a chance for those who come later to catch up.”
The other veteran players all nodded. The game needed to consider balance. Especially for a test like this that would not wipe data, they definitely would not let the early entrants monopolize all the advantages. This could be called an unwritten rule of the game.
“Zhao Hu?”
Luo Wu Shang looked at the tall figure over two meters high in the crowd, and surprise appeared on her face.
Although she had already heard from Zhang Qing Wei that Zhao Hu would definitely enter High Martial Arts Descend, she had not expected it to be so soon. With twenty slots randomly drawn from nearly one hundred thousand people, getting in was not easy.
Among those twenty, from the ten thousand newcomers Zhang Qing Wei had arranged previously, only one had entered, which showed just how low the odds were of entering High Martial Arts Descend.
“Elder Zhao, did you pass the test assessment?” Zhang Qing Wei looked at Zhao Hu, who had just finished registering, and was very surprised.
Her own selection back then had indeed involved some luck, but at that time only just over ten thousand people had made purchases, and seven managed to enter the game. Now there were nearly one hundred thousand people, yet only twenty slots. To greatly increase the odds, the only way was to pass the test assessment.
“No, I am still a bit short.” Zhao Hu shook his head somewhat awkwardly.
His entry this time had indeed been pure luck. When he was selected, he had been completely dazed. Just from passing the test assessment and regularly watching Fang Zhen’s live streams, he knew how terrifying High Martial Arts Descend’s potential was.
Calling it the future humanity’s second world was not an exaggeration at all.
Because of this, he did not even go to headquarters anymore. Aside from dealing with issues of other new games, he was crazily challenging the test assessment.
But even now he could only hold on for thirteen seconds. Twenty seconds felt utterly hopeless.
“It is really great that Elder Zhao could come. With this, our Heavenly Might can gain a greater advantage in High Martial Arts Descend,” Zhang Qing Wei said happily.
The addition of a Fist Saint could place the Heavenly Might team firmly in the absolute first tier.
“Mm, but I do not plan to act together with you most of the time.” Zhao Hu nodded and shared his thoughts. “I plan to study the martial arts here carefully and then challenge the test assessment again. If I don’t pass the test assessment, I will not truly start playing this game.”
“Alright then.” Luo Wu Shang understood that Zhao Hu was a stubborn person. Since he had said he wanted to pass the test assessment, he definitely would, and persuasion was useless. After all, any saint-level being in Pilgrimage was very unconventional. “I have Leopard Shadow Steps and Crushing Stone Fist here. You can take them to learn, but you will have to find a way to fight for a meditation technique yourself.”
“Meditation techniques are very special. You must constantly look at the meditation diagram to train. I cannot provide that here, and redeeming one costs one thousand points. Daily housing and food also require points, so you will have to do tasks to earn them.”
“Thanks.” Zhao Hu took the two martial skills and then went upstairs to learn the breathing technique.
On the other side, under Fang Zhen’s guidance, Li Ranxing also obtained Leopard Shadow Steps and Crushing Stone Fist, and joined the mecha team, giving the entire mecha team a considerable strength boost.
After meeting Li Ranxing, Saiwai Qiangke and Yi Qiang Ba Jue both had their eyes light up.
Sixth place in the Mecha Continent national competition, and in the circuit tournament he had even defeated the third-ranked Blood Flame Spear Princess. He was a truly top tier expert. With such an expert joining, it might not take long before they could stand on equal footing with Luo Wu Shang’s first-tier team.
“Captain Li, you must work hard. That meditation technique is very special and cannot be shared. Redeeming it costs one thousand points. For a newcomer to earn one thousand points, even if they work hard to repair the hall, it may still take about ten days,” Fang Zhen reminded him.
“Thanks, Old Zhen, I will give it my all.” Li Ranxing nodded.
He understood that if he could seize first place among the newcomers, it would be equivalent to getting nearly a ten-day lead over all the other newcomers.
As the newcomers started learning the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, the veteran players also sat down to the side and began improving their own Startling Spirit Breathing Technique.
The main battle dungeon task was about to open, and no one knew how high the physical fitness requirements would be. So even if they had to skip meals and sleep, they would desperately improve their physical fitness. They absolutely could not miss the dungeon battle task.
In no time, a strange scene appeared in the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall training ground. In the dead of night, a large group of people sat cross-legged in the spacious hall, with some periodically bleeding from their seven orifices, some even spewing blood in great mouthfuls, yet all of them showing ecstatic expressions.
This terrified vagrants passing by, who no longer dared to approach the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, afraid they would be dragged in to join the blood-spraying celebration.
“Only three days. We can only improve as much as possible.”
Looking at the crowd frantically practicing the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, Lin Qi was very satisfied.
Even though this time they were not confronting the entire White Feather Gang, they still had to face several of its teams. As a wilderness gang ranked in the top one hundred, even their weakest members were quasi-apprentices. It was very likely that there would be real apprentices overseeing this hostage exchange.
Facing a group of quasi-apprentices and real apprentices, if they did not have enough quasi-apprentices as cannon fodder, then even with experts like Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qing Wei, it would be hard to resist.
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, sunset on the third day.
Looking at the thirty players lined up neatly on the training ground, Lin Qi felt deeply moved.
One had to admit, when players start no-lifing, they really treat their lives like nothing.
Over the past three days, Lin Qi had no idea what these players were thinking. Not a single one truly logged off, or at most they would briefly log off to use the bathroom or grab a meal. All the rest of the time, they were frantically improving the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, or practicing Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps.
He did not know whether this new batch of players had very high talent, or were simply very rich, or whether the veteran players’ guidance was that effective.
Every one of them had pushed the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique to at least 15% entry-level. Among the newcomers, the strongest were two people. One was Zhao Hu, who directly took first place among the newcomers.
In only twelve hours, he had trained the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique to 9% entry-level, broken through in physical fitness to become a quasi-apprentice, and close behind was Li Ranxing, with 8% entry-level and also reaching quasi-apprentice physical fitness.
By now, both of their Startling Spirit Breathing Techniques had exceeded 30%. Zhao Hu was at 32% entry-level, Li Ranxing at 31%, and in terms of physical fitness they already surpassed many wilderness nomads.
Even more astonishing were the ten veteran players, each above 30% entry-level. Among them, Luo Wu Shang, Zhang Qing Wei, Fang Zhen, and Yi Ye Fu Yun, perhaps thanks to their meditation techniques, had pushed the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique directly past 70%. In physical fitness, their strength exceeded 190 kilograms, and their speed was above 7 meters per second.
In terms of physical fitness, the four of them could be considered at the level of limit quasi-apprentices.
But among everyone, Lin Qi was the one who had gained the most. Absorbing five times a day for three days, fifteen times in total, had pushed him to an entirely new realm.
Host: Lin Qi.
Age:
Permission level: Merit-Based Admission Authority level one. （Upgradable）
Martial arts level: martial artist apprentice.
Strength: 8 kilograms. （Quasi-martial artist standard: 900 kilograms）
Speed: 6 meters per second. （Quasi-martial artist standard: 26 meters per second）
Martial skills: Crushing Stone Fist first level proficient 12%, Leopard Shadow Steps first level proficient 17%.
Cultivation method: Startling Spirit Breathing Technique （entry-level 96%）
Meditation technique: Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique （entry-level 14%）
Allowed player count: 30 （the host’s current online player limit is 30, with 99,527 current reservations.）
“Right now, even in the wilderness, I count as an expert.” Looking at his panel, Lin Qi was very satisfied with his three days of improvement and even a bit surprised.
He had thought that just reaching the level of a limit quasi-apprentice would already be good, but he had unexpectedly leaped to become a real apprentice. Although among apprentices he only counted as a beginner apprentice, his status and position were no longer comparable to ordinary people in the High Martial Arts World. Joining any wilderness gang, he could serve as mid-level management or a small leader.
Under everyone’s gaze, Lin Qi walked slowly to the announcement board on the training ground and pasted an A4 sheet onto it.
“We now issue a temporary extermination task. The evil White Feather Gang has kidnapped an important companion of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. To rescue our companion and display the glory of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, any disciple whose physical fitness meets the standard may participate. If there is anything you do not understand, you can check the task details yourself.”
Lin Qi paused. After posting the task, he headed straight for the tricycle to prepare for the final rescue operation.
“Damn! It is just like the seniors said. This is the opening of a mainline hostile faction battle task!”
“The physical fitness requirement is quasi-apprentice. Great, these three days were not wasted. I can also participate in this dungeon battle task!”
“There is no limit on the number of participants, and trial weapons can be freely chosen according to physical fitness ranking. Is this a large-scale team dungeon?”
“A large-scale team dungeon? Do we newcomers get something this awesome right at the start? Who wants to form a team? I have already mastered Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps. Looking for teammates of similar level, we split the drops evenly!”
“Soft and tender newbie, strength 120 kilograms, speed 5 meters per second, already learned Crushing Stone Fist, looking for party members!”
