The morning air in the Border Forest was damp, carrying the fresh scent of earth and decaying leaves.
Last night’s campfire had long since died out, leaving only a pile of ashen embers radiating faint warmth.
Hans and Gelte yawned, rubbing their sleepy eyes and stretching out bodies stiff from sleeping against cold stones.
Although Jemie’s wounds had been healed by Shi Hanfeng, physical recovery didn’t erase the weakness from blood loss. His face was still a bit pale, but his spirit was clearly much improved.
He was carefully moving his “brand new” leg, eyes filled with the relief of surviving disaster.
“Mr. Rochet, morning!”
Hans’s eyes brightened when he saw the blond youth already packed up and leaning against a tree, as if blending into the morning forest light.
He called out loudly.
“Good morning, Lord Hans, Lord Gelte, Lord Jemie.”
Shi Hanfeng nodded slightly, a gentle smile on his lips.
He used the reflective surface of someone’s weapon to catch a glimpse of his own face.
Maybe it was due to an interrupted loading, but his face was still his own—compared to Rochet, he now looked more like his Void Wancang Simulation self.
His emerald eyes swept over the trio, lingering briefly on Jemie.
“How are you feeling, Lord Jemie?”
“Much better, Mr. Rochet! Thank you for healing me, it feels like a dream!”
Jemie stammered, emotional, trying to stand straight in salute, but swayed from weakness and was quickly supported by Gelte.
“All right, all right, save your strength for walking!”
Gelte laughed and scolded, but his gaze at Shi Hanfeng was equally full of gratitude.
After gnawing on some rock-hard rations that could double as weapons and drinking a few mouthfuls of cold, clear stream water, the makeshift party set off on their way back to Ximu Town.
Hans led the way in front.
Gelte supported the still-weak Jemie in the middle.
Shi Hanfeng followed behind at a leisurely pace.
His steps were light yet steady, his body’s coordination making the rough forest trail feel like solid ground beneath him.
He looked around curiously at the surroundings.
After about an hour of walking, the sunlight gradually brightened and warmed.
As they passed through a patch of sparse underbrush, Hans suddenly stopped, his hand gripping the broken sword at his waist with caution.
“Shh!”
Hans lowered his voice, making a silencing gesture.
Everyone halted instantly.
Following Hans’s signal, they saw, a dozen meters ahead by the roots of a crooked old tree, a small green creature with its back to them.
Goblin.
Shi Hanfeng recognized the classic skin—a short figure, less than a meter tall, with a sickly dark green hue.
Long pointed ears drooped, and it was wrapped in rags too filthy to tell their original color.
Skin and bones, it clutched some unknown plant tuber, gnawing at it.
Hearing movement behind it, the Goblin turned.
Perhaps startled by the sudden appearance of four people, it shrank into a ball, clutching its head and trembling.
Tears streamed down its face, emitting “gaa gaa” noises, looking weak, helpless, and pitiful.
Pathetic.
“Tch, unlucky.”
Hans frowned, spitting, but his grip on the sword loosened.
His face twisted with a mix of disgust and boredom, as if looking at roadside trash.
“Running into this thing first thing in the morning.”
Gelte curled his lip.
“Another useless loner. Judging by how scared it looks, it probably can’t even run.”
He didn’t even bother drawing his sword.
Even Jemie, though weak, looked over curiously, then lost interest.
“Let’s go, let’s go, ignore it.”
Hans waved, signaling to move on.
He couldn’t be bothered to deal with such a harmless little green runt, feeling it was a waste of effort.
None of the three even glanced at the Goblin, still crying “uu uu”, as they turned to continue on their way.
But Shi Hanfeng, walking at the rear, sharply caught what happened on the Goblin’s face the instant Hans and the others turned their backs.
A moment ago, it had been a sniveling, pitiful, helpless creature.
But in the blink of an eye—when their gazes moved away—
All traces of “fear” and “tears” vanished from its wrinkled green face!
In its murky yellow eyes, the tears were replaced by a primitive, cold, nakedly greedy and cruel light.
It didn’t move, but fixed its stare on the backs of the three—especially the supported Jemie.
That look was like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, evaluating its prey’s weakness, searching for a chance to strike.
Clearly, four people were too many for it to attack.
Shi Hanfeng, unsurprised, even felt a bit amused.
He didn’t hesitate.
With a thought, the ancient-looking Wufeng Sword appeared in his hand from the Backpack Space.
As Hans and the others took their first step away, backs to the Goblin—
Shi Hanfeng moved.
He closed the distance with maximum speed.
Gripping the rough sword hilt with both hands, he poured all his Strength into his arms and wrists, channeling it into the heavy blade.
With a forceful downward swing that ripped through the air, he brought the blade down.
The Goblin barely had time to register what was happening.
Its yellow eyes reflected only a looming dark gray shadow and the outline of a weapon as it descended.
Crack!
A dull, shell-shattering crunch echoed through the forest.
It wasn’t the slice of blade through flesh, but more like a heavy iron rod smashing into a waterlogged, rotten melon.
Hans, Gelte, and Jemie spun at the sudden sound.
What they saw was a bizarre scene.
Shi Hanfeng stood where the Goblin had crouched moments before.
He was slightly bent, both hands gripping the sword in a downward swing.
His motion was fluid and calm, as if he’d just idly swung a sword.
At his feet, the green runt was now half a dead stump, the Wufeng Sword’s blade smeared with red and white filth.
Shi Hanfeng frowned, wiping the blade against the Goblin’s body to remove the disgusting residue, over and over.
Watching this, the three exchanged looks.
[What’s going on? Boss, didn’t you say he was a Chief High Priest? Why is a clergyman even more ruthless than us adventurers?]
Hans’s face twitched at Gelte’s “eye telegram.”
[I don’t know! I’m just as confused, and did you notice? Even if the three of us teamed up, we might not beat him at killing Goblins.]
Jemie’s face was white as a sheet, eyes filled with confusion and lingering fear.
[Opponent? Don’t drag me into this if you want to die. It must have been a Goblin trying to backstab us, and the big shot saved me.]
Their gazes flitted between each other, finally settling under the overwhelming calm and focused posture of Shi Hanfeng as he cleaned his sword.
A silent consensus was reached.
Hans squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them, now filled only with numb understanding.
[We can’t understand the big shot’s world. Maybe he just likes killing Goblins?]
Gelte and Jemie received this “conclusion,” nodding imperceptibly.
Big shots can have strange hobbies.
Perfectly normal.
Shi Hanfeng paid no mind to the trio’s increasingly overloaded expressions.
Inside, he was filled with the joy unique to a Player.
The instant his powerful strike crushed the Goblin’s skull, a humming sound only he could hear echoed in his mind.
Then, a game-like semi-transparent UI prompt popped up at the lower right of his vision.
[Goblin slain x1]
[Obtained: Broken Leather Gauntlet x1]
[Obtained: Silver Coin x1]
Oh ho!
A bonus!
As a Player, it’s only natural to get loot for slaying monsters.
Even Shi Hanfeng’s hand paused mid-wipe as his heart raced.
It was common sense for Players to get loot, but for such a familiar game mechanic to exist in a real world like this—it was thrilling beyond words.
Suppressing the urge to immediately check his gains, he kept wiping the Wufeng Sword, his mind diving into the Backpack Space.
Inside the solid cubic meter of space, aside from the Novice Wufeng Sword, there were now two new items: a silver coin with a metallic shine and engraved patterns, and a shabby-looking gauntlet.
The gauntlet was roughly sewn from some dark brown leather, its edges frayed and worn.
There was no metal reinforcement, and its style was a plain tube that covered only the wrist.
It looked so old and beat-up that no one would pick it up from the roadside.
But Shi Hanfeng’s eyes sparkled.
Focusing his thoughts on the gauntlet, a line of descriptive text appeared:
[Broken Leather Gauntlet]
Type: Equipment (Hand)
Quality: White/Common
Attribute: Grants the wearer an additional Strength +1. This bonus decreases as the wearer’s Strength increases.
Description: A weathered leather gauntlet. Aside from minimal protection, it seems to retain a faint aura.
He tried equipping it.
With his own Strength of 16, the gauntlet only gave a 0.1 boost—a minor improvement, but it was a real stat bonus.
In a game, it was a whiteboard item, but in reality, it was undoubtedly a magic item.
Shi Hanfeng felt his talent becoming more valuable by the minute.
Immunity to gods’ malicious cognitive alteration was already strong, but even the in-game rules described here held meaning.
What was a “normal game”?
Resources.
Defeat monsters, get rewards.
Pushing the thought further, could he also accept Missions from specific characters to grow stronger?
If even lowly Goblins dropped stat-granting Equipment, what about higher-level monsters?
Bosses?
Shi Hanfeng felt his “Fourth Calamity” path turn golden and dazzling, full of infinite possibilities!
And the silver coin—a single Goblin dropped a whole silver coin.
A Mission to clear a Goblin nest paid at most five silver coins, but a lone Goblin could yield one silver coin.
Didn’t that make him a double worker?
Shi Hanfeng’s gaze drifted from the meaningless Goblin remains on the ground, to the battered but significant gauntlet on his left hand, and finally to the shining silver coin in Backpack Space.
His “merchant” identity seemed to be gaining legitimacy.
Maybe he really could make a fortune slaying monsters and looting gold in another world.
The idea flashed through his mind, tugging the corners of his mouth upward.
He quickly restored his calm.
He wiped off the last trace of filth from the Wufeng Sword, tossing away the blood-soaked leaves.
Then, straightening up as if nothing had happened, he turned to the still-stunned Hans, Gelte, and Jemie.
“Sorry to hold us up.”
Shi Hanfeng’s voice remained clear and gentle, with a breeze-like smile that made it seem he’d only swatted a bothersome fly.
“These things are nothing but trouble if left alone. Let’s keep going—Ximu Town shouldn’t be far, right?”
Hans cleared his throat, forcing down the awkwardness and squeezing out a smile.
“Yes! Yes! Just ahead! Mr. Rochet, let’s go!”
He hurried ahead, walking faster than before.
Gelte and Jemie quickly followed, eyes averted as if the bloody scene had never occurred.
Shi Hanfeng shrugged.
Their reactions were rather dull.
He sheathed the Wufeng Sword and strode after them with light steps.
Dawn filtered through the mist, casting a long shadow behind him.
He felt great.
Truly great.
Not only had he discovered a new talent feature, but effort now yielded real rewards.
It seemed his made-up merchant identity could evolve beyond selling healing services—maybe even develop into an Equipment business.
Feeling the faint power from the gauntlet on his left hand, Shi Hanfeng looked toward the forest with a Player’s pure and dangerous hunger.
I’ll scout ahead.
When I return, I’ll kill you all.
Goblins, are your “gold coins” and “Equipment” ready?