Arena

The town was bustling at night. All players below level 20 were gathered in this area.

Some hurried about, while others drifted through life in a drunken haze. Their weapons came in every variety imaginable, from cold weapons to firearms, from staffs to hidden weapons. If you could think of it, some player was using it.

"Recruiting! Recruiting! Dynasty Guild is recruiting newcomers! Great pay, excellent benefits!"

"Selling beginner gear, guaranteed cheaper than what the Game World sells."

"Brother, this Gunslinger Job Certificate is definitely worth 1,000 Copper Coins. Think about it—early-game players don't have high stats yet. Having a gun versus not having one is practically the difference between two worlds! I'm an old player, I wouldn't lie to you..."

"What stats are you stacking? Have you even played games before? If not, I'll teach you. In games, there are two things: equipment and skills. Stats only add a few points of damage in the early game, but powerful equipment is different. It can help you get through the first few stages much more easily. Besides, if you put in some effort, you can basically stack your Main Attribute to 50 points before level 20."

"Why can you only stack it to 50? Cough, cough. Ah, doesn't my equipment Looked Like it's pretty good...?"

Chen Yi absorbed knowledge about the Game World like a sponge and roughly understood the major player schools at the moment.

The mainstream was the Traditional Game School. Players worked hard to level up and replace their equipment, aiming for stronger and better gear.

Due to racial limitations, players needed to make a breakthrough after stacking their Base Stats to 50. Chen Yi had not yet found out how to break through. Perhaps his old class teacher knew, but 50 points was still far too distant for Chen Yi, so there was no need to worry about it.

Characters had stat limits, but equipment did not. The slogan of these players was: Max out every equipment detail, and the improvements will surpass your imagination.

Traditional Game School players improved quickly, but whether they became powerful in the end depended on money and luck.

The second type was the Scholar School. They mainly focused on skills, seeking to understand them like Chen Yi did and refusing the Game World's intelligent spellcasting.

Only a small number of people chose to try this method, because its rate of improvement was simply too slow.

Powerful players of this school were stronger than players of the first school at the same level, but weak ones could not even leave Novice Village and were the kind nobody wanted to team up with.

However, Chen Yi had no intention of changing his plan to become stronger. Players basically played in teams, while Chen Yi had no trustworthy teammates to join, so he could not afford to leave himself with any obvious weaknesses.

Afterward, Chen Yi found a staff and a ring at a stall.

Withered Vine Staff

Quality: White

Physical Attack: 10-12

Magic Attack: 15-21

Effect: When casting Fireball, there is a greater chance of setting the target on fire.

Durability: 15/15

Level: 5

Evaluation: A wooden staff casting... Fireball?

A good Martial Tool instantly raised Chen Yi's combat strength by a great deal. No wonder so many players pursued better equipment.

Ring of Contemplation

Quality: Green

Intelligence +1

Effect: Improves meditation effects to a certain degree.

Level: 5

Durability: 5/5

Evaluation: A gift from a Mentor to an Apprentice.

Although this ring was Green Quality, its effect was truly terrible. It had been sitting at the stall for several game cycles already.

When the stall owner saw that Chen Yi was interested in the ring, he immediately boasted about the benefits of faster mana recovery and claimed that he and Chen Yi had hit it off at first sight, so Chen Yi only needed 200 Copper Coins to take it away.

Together with the 900 Copper Coins spent on the Martial Tool, Chen Yi suddenly felt terribly poor. He did not even have enough money to put together a full set of equipment.

He kept a few Copper Coins in reserve and spent all the rest on red and blue potions.

Big Red Potion x3

Restores 25 health over 10s.

Evaluation: An inferior product brought from some world, but at least it tastes okay.

Search Book Title Not Found, try Search Author instead. Maybe it was just Renamed!

Price: 150 Copper Coins

Big Blue Potion x1

Restores 20 mana over 10s.

Evaluation: If you have no mana, is drinking this really fast enough?

Price: 100 Copper Coins

In the Arena, Chen Yi's Opponent was a level 12 Gunslinger. The two stood 50 meters apart.

His Opponent wore a relaxed expression, spinning a revolver In Hand. "Kid, did you come to the wrong place? This is the Arena for players above level 10. You should be playing house with the other Newcomers."

Chen Yi said nothing. He naturally had his reasons for coming here.

His Opponent's trash talk could not affect Chen Yi as the countdown in the air slowly ticked down.

The instant the countdown ended, Chen Yi began moving in a Z-pattern. Bullet holes Appeared where he had been standing moments earlier.

Although the Gunslinger Player had acted as if he looked down on Chen Yi, he had no intention of holding back.

At this level, both Gunslingers and Mages counted as mid-range classes. They could attack each other while standing still, so the contest was really about attack speed and projectile speed. Clearly, bullets were faster.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Revolver bullets continuously tore through the air. Relying on Mental power far beyond what someone of his level should possess, Chen Yi could still track them, though his dodges were far from graceful.

"Damn it! Why is he as slippery as a loach?!"

Both revolvers held only six bullets, and now the ammunition was nearly depleted.

The Gunslinger Player swiftly pulled an Ice Grenade from a pouch at his left waist and threw it at Chen Yi. He then ran away from Chen Yi while skillfully replacing his magazine.

However, the Ice Grenade that should have stopped Chen Yi did not explode. Instead, it flew back.

"What?!"

With a sound like shattering glass, a small patch of ground froze over, trapping the Gunslinger Player's feet inside.

Before he could shoot through the ice with his revolver, Fireballs bombarded him one after another.

You were hit by Fireball and lost 25 health.

You were hit by Fireball and lost 20 health.

...

You were hit by Fireball and lost 22 health.

You lost the match.

By the time the Gunslinger Player came back to his senses, he had already been ejected from the Arena. "Damn it, I actually ran into a Scholar School Mage. Didn't they say this school was garbage in the early game?"

The Fireballs came flying over as if they required no Casting Time at all, a very obvious Scholar School trait.

Thinking of how Chen Yi seemed to be only level 5, it Looks Like the Scholar School was about to produce a Genius.

After obtaining victory, Chen Yi reflected on the issues from the battle just now. Distance was a Mage's lifeline, but it was also the lifeline of certain other classes.

When facing an Enemy who attacked faster than he did, he lacked ways to respond.

Chen Yi had already been grinding in the Arena for two days, with more losses than wins.

At first, he really had gone to the Arena for players below level 10. But just as the Gunslinger Player had said, it was no different from playing house for the current Chen Yi.

Job certificates generally required players to reach level 10 before they could begin the quest. In other words, players below level 10 normally fought using only basic skills and basic stat panels.

Those battles usually ended almost as soon as they began and could not give Chen Yi the slightest pressure at all.

Only in the level 10-20 Arena did players truly begin to show their strength: all sorts of classes, bizarre skills, and even spendthrift players from guild families.

Compared to those spendthrift players, while he could not even scrape together a full set of equipment, Chen Yi could not help shedding tears of envy.