164,250 Magic Explosion Frogs

The damp cave.

Faint sunlight refracted through the cracks between the rocks, falling onto a moss-covered stone.

Buzz, buzz, buzz! A reckless Blood-sucking Mosquito was flapping its wings and flaunting itself in public.

It had no idea what kind of cold-blooded hunter it was facing.

Whoosh! A forked tongue shot out, and in the blink of an eye, it swept the delicious mosquito into its belly.

It was a young Lightning Attribute Magic Explosion Frog.

Unfortunately, it likewise had no idea what kind of cunning and patient hunter it was facing—

Whoosh! A sudden gust of wind rang out.

A specially made frog-catching net arrived in an instant, trapping it in place. No matter how much it struggled, it was all in vain.

The hunter, who had been lying in wait for a long time, skillfully drew a slightly rusted dagger and mercilessly ended the Magic Explosion Frog's life.

"You killed 1 Magic Explosion Frog. Your cumulative Magic Explosion Frog kills have reached 164,250. Your milestone—Yuntai Mountain Frog Hunter—has set a new record."

"You gained 1 XP."

"Your Magic Resistance has increased slightly."

"Your Magic Resistance has increased to 100% (it cannot increase any further)."

"You completed your first Sin Mark and gained the feat: Ten Years One Sword."

"Ten years."

"I finally became a tiny bit stronger."

Inside the cave, Roger sighed softly.

However, he did not linger in that mood for long. After expertly disposing of the Magic Explosion Frog's corpse, he followed the small path in his memory and quickly but cautiously withdrew from the cave.

In this dark and damp place, he was not at the top of the food chain. As a Magic Explosion Frog hunter, he might also be nothing more than slightly stronger prey in the eyes of other monsters.

Ten minutes later. At the foot of Cloud Terrace Mountain.

He walked along a gravel path overgrown with green grass.

Roger could not help narrowing his eyes as he glanced at the midday sun—it was just as dazzling as he remembered.

"How long has it been since I last saw such scorching sunlight?"

He felt inexplicably moved.

Ten years!

During the ten years since he transmigrated, he had kept company with Magic Explosion Frogs every day: he rose in the darkness at dawn and went up the mountain to catch frogs;

at dusk, he returned home beneath the moon and went to sleep.

His long-term activity in caves had granted him "Dim Light Vision."

But in exchange, when he finally bathed in sunlight after so long, the system informed him that he had received a "Strong Light Punishment."

This represented slight dizziness and temporarily reduced vision.

Fortunately, he had finished all his work for the day and was on his way home.

In Roger's understanding, this small path down the mountain should not be dangerous.

"One must never let one's guard down."

"This world is too dangerous..."

With that thought, Roger quietly activated the Hidden Hero class feat "Qi Divination Technique."

"Qi Divination Technique (1st Ring Feat): It can avoid misfortune and seek fortune, and inspect friend and foe."

"Upon activation, it consumes 2 Stamina Points and 2 Energy Points per minute."

If heaven had told Roger in advance that downloading that strange Class Template would cause him to transmigrate, he definitely would not have made that impulsive click.

Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

Roger was a thoroughly ordinary Net-addicted Youth. He had started playing games as a child and had been at it for more than twenty years.

Before transmigrating, he had been playing an obscure DND-style game.

As the classic example of someone who was terrible at games but hopelessly addicted, Roger had naturally gotten stuck at the First Stage.

For an entire week, he had been locked in a death struggle with the final boss—a cunning Mage Lord.

The ultimate result had been ninety-nine humiliating defeats.

Because of this, he had been forced to resort to underhanded tactics.

While searching online for a cheat editor, he discovered a Class Template made and uploaded by a netizen.

It was a class called "Hidden Hero."

Roger took one look and fell in love with it.

"Hidden Hero" was a stylish class designed around ancient Chinese heroes and Western fantasy rangers.

Most importantly, this class came with extraordinarily high Magic Resistance.

The creator had claimed on the message board that he hated mages.

The Hidden Hero class had been designed specifically to deal with mages.

Coincidentally, Roger had just been tormented by the Mage Lord for a week. Seeing this class, he was overjoyed.

He eagerly clicked download.

Then he transmigrated.

"Basic Information: Roger, 24-year-old human male, class Hidden Hero, LV5"

"Attributes: Strength 9, Constitution 9, Dexterity 11, Wisdom 12, Intelligence 11, Charisma 9"

"Feats: Steadiness / Qi Divination Technique / Hidden in Plain Sight / Light as a Swallow / Ten Years One Sword (New)"

"Skills (Life): Gathering 49, Herbalism 49, Climbing 49, Skinning 25, Wilderness Survival 20..."

"Skills (Combat): Concealment 49, Ambush 49, Hidden Hero Weapon Mastery 49, Swift as a Hare 49, Animal Taming 49..."

"Special: Sin Mark / Extermination Order"

"Resistances: Magic Resistance 100%..."

An hour later.

Roger lay comfortably on the daybed in his small home, examining his Attributes Panel.

"I finally got my first Sin Mark."

"My Magic Resistance is maxed out, and the new feat's attributes aren't bad either."

"Ten Years One Sword (1st Ring Feat): In every battle, your first three attacks carry four layers of the 'Charge Up' trait."

"Charge Up: Increases the power of a technique by 100% per layer."

A satisfied smile appeared on Roger's face.

It was an affirmation of his ten years of hard work.

Ten years ago, he had transmigrated to a planet called "Mystra."

He had arrived with nothing but the Hidden Hero Class Template.

After learning the general situation of the world from the elders in town, he warned himself:

He could not act recklessly; he had to remain steady! There were two main reasons. First, Roger knew his own limitations.

This world was somewhat similar to the game world.

And he understood very clearly that, in the realm of gaming, he was unquestionably a complete novice! Transmigrating and gaining a Class Template would not magically turn a novice into a pro.

The kind of story where someone transmigrated and immediately overturned the table and slaughtered everyone was better left to other people.

If you were weak, you had to be timid.

Slowly developing and building up trump cards was the way to go.

Thus, whenever someone invited Roger on an adventure, his response was always: "Next time."

"I'm not going."

"I'm not that strong..."

Second, this world was extremely dangerous!

According to the creation myth widely circulated in Tongma Town, this world was made up of nine planets.

The smallest one was Mystra, where Roger lived.

Mystra had once possessed a splendid civilization, but that had long since become a thing of the past.

Rumor had it that the creatures of the land had angered the gods.

The enraged gods bombarded Mystra with Nineteenth Ring Spells for three days and three nights.

Tall buildings were flattened.

Fertile fields became deserts.

More frighteningly,

the people who survived the cataclysm discovered in terror that the aftereffects of the Nineteenth Ring Spells' Great Explosion continued to drift above Mystra—vast amounts of lingering Wild Mana had turned into a curse.

Under the radiation of the mana, more and more people and beasts mutated into monsters.

Of course, there were also people who benefited from the concentration of mana.

They were the Adventurers who had newly emerged during Mystra's wasteland era.

But compared with the horrors that bred in the shadows, humanity was simply too insignificant.

Of the Adventurers who had traveled with Roger ten years ago, only a tiny number were still active in Tongma Town.

About one-tenth of them had gone south, where Magic Abundance was higher, to seek opportunities.

As for the rest, Roger did not want to remember them.

He could only hope they rested in peace.

Now, it seemed that Roger's choice had undoubtedly been correct.

Through day after day of hard work, he had finally become a tiny bit stronger and truly gained the ability to leave Tongma Town.

Of course, there was another reason he had remained in the beginner village for ten years.

It was related to the Hidden Hero class. As a Hidden Hero, Roger did not possess particularly outstanding attributes.

All six of his attributes were only a tiny bit higher than those of ordinary people in Mystra—who averaged 9 points—and were slightly inferior to those of the Adventurers.

The Hidden Hero's skill set was ordinary, and its feats were merely somewhat distinctive.

Only its special abilities were dazzling.

The Hidden Hero class came with two special abilities by default: Sin Mark and Extermination Order.

The former was what had forced Roger to become the natural enemy of Magic Explosion Frogs.

"Sin Mark: You may choose to lock the Sin Mark onto a type of monster. By continuously killing monsters of that type, you can obtain excessive attribute bonuses."

For example, Magic Explosion Frogs had granted him an increase in Magic Resistance.

As he killed monsters, the Sin Mark would continually accumulate on a progress bar.

When the progress bar was filled,

the Hidden Hero would receive a special feat as a reward.

After that, however, he could no longer milk any attributes from that type of monster.

In other words, he had "graduated."

After obtaining this special ability, Roger tried it on some common minor monsters around Tongma Town:

killing Yellow Wind Rabbits increased his hearing.

killing Shrub Imps increased his X ability.

killing Little Earth Goblins increased his affinity with the earth element.

To be honest, these were all rather useless attributes.

Until one day,

while gathering herbs, he casually placed the mark on a young and ignorant Magic Explosion Frog.

And so the story of the Yuntai Mountain Frog Hunter began...

The Hidden Hero class's initial Magic Resistance was 40%.

Ten years of frog hunting had raised Roger's Magic Resistance to 100%—

if he ever accidentally became a mage killer, those 164,250 Magic Explosion Frogs would have to bear full responsibility.

Now that he had completed his first Sin Mark, Roger felt completely relaxed.

He knew that the accumulation of these ten years was enough for him to leave Tongma Town.

He lay on his bed and used Qi Divination Technique to tell his own fortune.

The hexagram showed:

Tomorrow would be extremely auspicious. It would be suitable for travel and suitable for killing enemies.

The following morning.

Tongma Town Lord's Manor.

Roger arrived alone, drifting lightly through the air, and tore down the wanted notice that had been hanging there for three years.

"Corpse Demon, I'm coming."

He was just about to turn around and leave in style when two tall and burly guards blocked his path.

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