Overpowered Return, Fugitives

After thinking for only a few seconds, Wang Zhifan made his choice and opened the reward chest that had been sitting before him for a while.

Inside the chest were six items: a crudely made black-and-red thorned circlet, the Rare Tier Bear Clan Mage Circlet; a pair of black-and-gray fur gloves and a pair of light-gray fur bracers, the Fine Tier Rage Gloves and Berserk Bracers; and finally, something he was fairly familiar with—a small pale-yellow scroll, the Fine Tier Warrior Skill Upgrade Scroll.

Wang Zhifan merely examined the most valuable item, the Bear Clan Mage Circlet, for a few moments before placing it in his inventory.

He immediately put the Berserk Bracers and Rage Gloves on his hands. They fit just as well as expected, feeling weightless while providing a degree of protection. They also looked simple and sharp, neither flashy nor shabby.

Seeing no potential enemies around him, Wang Zhifan was still itching to find out what it felt like to trigger the Berserk and Rage effects of these two pieces of equipment.

He first took the Blade of the Wolf Fiend from his inventory and swung it through the air a few times. Feeling nothing unusual, he confirmed that swinging at empty air could not trigger the effects. Then he slashed at a small shrub beside him.

Before the shrub's branches even hit the ground, he suddenly felt an indescribable energy surge through his body. His strength increased significantly, and he felt more agile and nimble as well! "It actually triggered!"

Wang Zhifan was somewhat surprised. He had assumed chopping at vegetation like this would be no different from cutting empty air and would not trigger any effects, but that was clearly not the case.

Growing increasingly interested, he lightly struck some rocks and dirt on the ground, then used the Blade of the Wolf Fiend to split the surface of a nearby puddle. He found that all of these actions could trigger the effects of the Berserk Bracers and Rage Gloves!

When Wang Zhifan opened his personal status panel with a thought, he found that it had changed considerably:

Name: Wang Zhifan.

Status: Normal, Berserk 3 (9.7 seconds remaining), Rage 3 (9.7 seconds remaining).

Level: Lv2.

Experience: 61/100.

Class: Blademaster.

Constitution: 18.

Strength: 24.

Agility: 17.

Spirit: 16.

Skill: Basic Blade Art Lv3.

Equipped: Blade of the Wolf Fiend (Rare Tier), Wolfhide Armor (Fine Tier), Berserk Bracers (Fine Tier), Rage Gloves (Fine Tier), Iron Mountain Sash (Rare Tier), Unyielding Ring (Fine Tier), Chapter of Gloom (Rare Tier).

Inventory: Handgun (Fine Tier), Bear Clan Mage Circlet (Rare Tier).

As the panel showed, he had currently triggered three stacks of Berserk and three stacks of Rage. When he focused on the Berserk entry, a more detailed explanation appeared: "Attack and movement speed increased by 12%; physical damage increased by 21%." The Rage entry read, "Strength increased by 4 points." This boost was also reflected in his attributes—his Strength had indeed risen from its original base value of 20 to 24.

These two pieces of equipment are a bit ridiculous. If their bonuses are this easy to trigger, then the 12% attack and movement speed, 21% physical damage, and 4 points of Strength can practically be maintained throughout an entire battle. They're completely stronger than some Rare Tier equipment.

Wang Zhifan could only marvel inwardly that the unknown great being who had created these reward items clearly had no understanding of stat balance. The Fine Tier Berserk Bracers alone were already absurdly powerful, and combined with the Rage Gloves, they were absurd beyond absurd. Even if the bonuses vanished after ten seconds, they still outclassed the attributes of most Fine Tier equipment. They could even rival some Rare Tier items.

Looks like I'll need to stack my buffs before attacking in future battles, then try to take down my target in one burst.

After testing the highly potent Berserk Bracers and Rage Gloves, Wang Zhifan took out the only remaining pale-yellow scroll from the chest and used it. Unfortunately, he received no pleasant surprise this time either. The notification on his panel was exactly the same as when he had used this scroll before.

You used a Warrior Skill Upgrade Scroll (Fine Tier). Your class skill Basic Blade Art Lv3 failed to upgrade.

Wang Zhifan did not pay much attention to it. He then activated the return function on his panel and quickly returned to the real world.

After a brief blur of consciousness, Wang Zhifan found himself standing in his rented apartment. He had been lying on the bed when he entered the instance, but he returned standing up, which showed that his posture upon returning was related to his state inside the instance.

He walked to the bed and turned on the screen of the phone he had left there. He found that it was only around nine in the morning, when most people had just started their workdays. As an unemployed youth, he had nothing much to do.

It'd be great if I could run several instances every day... No, this mindset is getting too inflated. I can't ignore how dangerous instances are!

Feeling a little bored, Wang Zhifan put away the equipment he did not need to keep on hand, then sat before the laptop on the table beside his bed and began browsing the internet.

The first place he checked was the Player Forum, which he visited almost every day. Since the forum had an official Xia Kingdom background, the information there was fairly useful to him.

Before long, a post issued by the Xia Kingdom's Special Administration Bureau caught his attention.

"Dear players, our bureau has recently discovered that a group of foreign player criminals has fled into major cities within our country, causing certain adverse consequences. Our bureau is actively pursuing these foreign criminals. At the same time, we ask all players to remain alert for unfamiliar foreigners around them in their daily lives. If you discover anything suspicious, please report it immediately by phone. The reporting number is..."

"Additionally, some of these foreign player criminals are highly dangerous and have committed serious crimes. Should any player encounter them, you must immediately flee and report the incident. Capable high-level players may also kill them directly. Once verified, our bureau will provide the corresponding bounty rewards... The currently known information on these dangerous individuals is as follows..."

Wang Zhifan paid some attention to this official notice because Dongjiang City, where he was currently located, was undoubtedly a major city within the Xia Kingdom. Though it was not among the top three cities, it was still in the top ten.

Foreign player criminals... I wonder whether there are any in Dongjiang City... Either way, I need to make some preparations.

Being rather cautious by nature, Wang Zhifan immediately took out the equipment he had just placed in his inventory, intending to maintain some combat readiness even in his everyday state.

My head still hurts a little today, so there will only be one update. Normal updates will resume tomorrow.