-20
-26
-15
…
Xiao Nanchu struggled to squeeze his way out from the Village Chief’s side, following the swarming crowd all the way to the entrance of the village where the Small Wild Boars spawned.
Vast clusters of numbers floated above the Small Wild Boar herds.
The area surrounding the boars was completely packed with players. Those on the outside couldn’t even manage to touch a single creature.
This brought up the aspect of the game that Xiao Nanchu understood the least: Entity Collision.
Generally speaking, shouldn’t this kind of online game disable Entity Collision? Whether for the game company or the players, Entity Collision only added unnecessary trouble.
It was exactly like the situation now.
The people who arrived later couldn’t even touch the damn boars in front of them! Forget about killing ten; even seeing ten was a problem.
As for Xiao Nanchu, since he was practically the last to arrive, he could only see the constant stream of numbers floating into the air.
He had thought that because he entered the game nearly one hour later than everyone else, his progress with the Novice Quest would be smooth and unobstructed. Who would have expected that there would still be this many people when he arrived at the Small Wild Boars?
Doubtful, he opened the World Channel to see what step the faster players had reached during this past hour. Instead, he saw comments that left him somewhat shocked.
[Feifeifei: Dammit! How are we supposed to fight? A Small Wild Boar has 200 HP. I only hit it for a few dozen, but it one-shots me!]
[Tutu Can’t Sleep: Shit, it’s impossible to fight. As a Mage, my casting time is incredibly slow, and I even have to aim manually!]
[Grand Commander of Xiaochuan Empire: Person above, why can you swear? Holy shit, I can too?!]
[Look At You: You too? Me too?!]
[Xiaomian Wants To Sleep: You too? Me too?!]
[Practice For Two And A Half Years: Interrupting to get serious. Has anyone actually killed a Small Wild Boar and leveled up? Speak up and let us know.]
[Bibilabu: Interrupting to get serious. Has anyone actually killed a Small Wild Boar and leveled up? Speak up and let us know.]
[Blade Shield: Interrupting to get serious. Has anyone actually killed a Small Wild Boar and leveled up? Speak up and let us know.]
…
The further Xiao Nanchu scrolled down, the more obvious the strange feeling in his heart became.
Until he reached the most recent messages, not a single notification about a kill had popped up. It was an entire screen of human repeaters.
[Left Hand High Damage, Right Hand High Damage: Interrupting to get serious. Has anyone actually killed a Small Wild Boar and leveled up? Speak up and let us know?]
Okay, that felt better now.
Satisfied, he closed the World Channel and subsequently opened the leaderboard. He wanted to check the levels first.
With so many people entering the game, how could there not be a single kill? There had to be some powerhouse keeping a low profile.
[Level Leaderboard]
1. [***] — Level 2
2. [None]
?
Only one?
With so many people entering the game simultaneously, only one person had successfully killed a Small Wild Boar? An hour had already passed.
‘Good heavens… are these Small Wild Boars even monsters?’
Well, they actually were monsters. But was the difficulty of the very first novice mob really this high?
This game company was being quite arrogant, relying on the fact that they were currently the only virtual reality game available. Xiao Nanchu clicked his tongue silently, unable to stop himself from complaining about the company in his head.
But soon, Xiao Nanchu saw another person successfully join the level rankings.
[Level Leaderboard]
1. [***] — Level 2
2. [Tiger Regiment Leader] — Level 2
3. [None]
‘Oh? Another one?’
But that name was a bit too…
If they weren’t just messing around, Xiao Nanchu found it hard to imagine what kind of person the other party was. Clearly, names could be hidden, yet this second-ranked “big brother” chose not to. At a glance, he seemed extremely confident in his own name.
So, up until now, only two people had successfully completed the Novice Quest in one hour?
[Tiger Regiment Leader: Small Wild Boars are very strong. There is no way to kill them alone.]
[Feifeifei: Worship the powerhouse!]
[Bibilabu: Worship the powerhouse!]
[I I I Beautiful Girl: That’s not right. Why hasn’t the first-place powerhouse with the hidden name said anything yet?]
[I Am A Little Speechless: …He hid his name. Why would he talk?]
[Feifeifei: The name of the person above is a perfect match for the situation.]
[Bibilabu: The name of the person above is a perfect match for the situation.]
[Look At You: The name of the person above is a perfect match for the situation.]
…
The World Channel had only been normal for a few minutes before it turned back into a long string of repeaters.
Although everyone couldn’t defeat the boars or pass the Novice Quest, this hyper-realistic feeling was pretty good, so there weren’t any major issues for the time being. As for players, they wouldn’t focus until they were completely bored.
In reality, everyone had a good idea of how that [Tiger Regiment Leader] had killed the Small Wild Boar. It was nothing more than human-wave tactics, where the powerhouse landed the final blow! Who wouldn’t know that? It was just that they hadn’t reached that point yet.
After all, that mysterious first-place player had completed the quest within ten minutes of the server opening. Therefore, the possibility of a solo clearance clearly existed.
That made things interesting.
Everyone was playing the game — why should you be able to do it while I can’t? A large portion of the current players still held this kind of competitive mindset.
But there was another layer to it: the hyper-realism of this game.
A sword had to be swung by yourself. Defense wasn’t just about blocking a hit and calling it a day. Magic couldn’t be automatically released or tracked after finishing a chant. For bows and arrows, you even had to aim and shoot yourself.
Everyone was still in a phase of exploration. There were still many things to play with; there was no absolute necessity to level up immediately.
Xiao Nanchu only lurked in the World Channel for a short while before looking back to find that he was already close to the herd of Small Wild Boars.
Because players couldn’t respawn on the spot, the massive crowd of players in front had died and returned to the Novice Village. Naturally, Xiao Nanchu had been steadily moving forward.
He would be able to touch a Small Wild Boar soon!
Xiao Nanchu rubbed his palms together, the sword in his hand ready to strike. He wanted to see if a mere Small Wild Boar was truly that difficult.
Soon, as the batch of players ahead of him died again, Xiao Nanchu successfully reached a boar.
Without even looking, Xiao Nanchu slashed down with his sword.
-200
**[You have killed Player: Xiao Taozhi]**
‘It’s not hard. With just one strike, I…’
Wait.
‘Did the system make a mistake? Wasn’t I attacking a Small Wild Boar? What the hell is “Killed Player: Xiao Taozhi”?’
The Worn One-handed Sword in Xiao Nanchu’s hand shimmered with a dazzling, cold light, as if boasting its bravery to its master.
Well…
‘Consider it her bad luck. She ran right into me while I was attacking the boar. This has nothing to do with me. Let debts be paid to those who owe them; I’m a victim too.’
He then aimed at a Small Wild Boar on the other side and slashed again.
-200
It was still the familiar -200.
‘Is this damage my fixed damage? Or is my damage already overflowing?’
It felt more like his damage was overflowing. After all, the Small Wild Boars only had 200 HP.
And that player also had 200 HP. In other words, she was…?