Master

Wang Qianduo only now realized that the four people in front of him really were top-tier experts.

Wang Qianduo used a crossbow too, but in Song in the Clouds's hands, it hit whatever he aimed at. In his hands, he had to aim wherever it hit.

He couldn't even quite understand how it worked. How did Song in the Clouds manage it?

He could guess that they were taking advantage of the semi-intelligent creatures in the virtual game, but he couldn't figure out the specifics.

Song in the Clouds showed Wang Qianduo how to pull monsters, and then Sword of Miracles showed him how to hold their attention.

He saw Sword of Miracles stride forward in his Mecha and stop in front of Song in the Clouds. Then he raised his shield and smacked the lead wolf flying.

The one-handed sword in his other hand, already charged up, came down in a flash of light, hitting all three Dire Wolves.

-35

-37

-37

Three damage numbers rose above the Dire Wolves, and all three were staggered.

This left Wang Qianduo just as baffled. Sword of Miracles had clearly used a single-target heavy strike skill, so why had it hit three monsters?

Why did his heavy strike skill have a control effect? That made no sense!

While Wang Qianduo was racking his brains over it, the other two people in the party made their moves.

Call Me Martial God wielded a longsword. He thrust once, immediately followed with Double Strike, then interrupted the motion with another sword strike. In an instant, four damage numbers, each about the same as Sword of Miracles's, appeared above the wolf Song in the Clouds had shot.

Just as the wolf was about to turn around, a shield blocked its way again and smacked it back. Then an energy bolt flew over and exploded right at its neck.

Weak Point Break-106

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Before the wolf could even react, four-fifths of its health bar was gone, while the other two wolves hadn't even managed to attack Sword of Miracles.

By then, Wang Qianduo had stopped marveling. He drew the Minghong Blade and controlled Unit Zero, cutting the weakened wolf clean in half with one slash.

-160

Then he turned toward one of the other two wolves and used Double Strike, landing two more blows in an instant.

-240

Critical Hit-630

Two damage numbers appeared, one of them a critical hit. The wolf yelped and fell to the ground.

Sword of Miracles and the others were stunned. What had they just seen?

Over 600 damage? And what was that gleaming, dazzling blade?

They quickly came to their senses, though, because one wolf was still alive. Sword of Miracles blocked its attack with his shield again.

Everyone landed one blow each, and they took it down. Wang Qianduo's damage, over a hundred points, stood out especially against everyone else's hits of just a few dozen.

Each of the three wolves gave Wang Qianduo over a hundred experience points. That was a drop in the bucket compared to the 50,000 experience he needed to go from level five to level six, but it was still a lot.

"Brother, that blade of yours?" Once the three wolves were dealt with, Song in the Clouds stopped pulling monsters and looked at Wang Qianduo curiously.

"[Minghong]"

Wang Qianduo sent the Minghong Blade's stats to the Chat Channel. He couldn't exactly keep the blade a secret, so he might as well be open about it and dispel some suspicion.

He'd thought about using his crossbow just then, but he was afraid of hitting Sword of Miracles while he was pulling monsters. After thinking it over, he'd drawn the Minghong Blade and gone in to fight.

Song in the Clouds: "Amazing!"

Call Me Martial God: "Now that's the kind of top-tier weapon I want!"

Bright Moon over the Blue Sea: "So Legendary Equipment really is that ridiculous?"

The four of them looked at the Minghong Blade's stats with different expressions, but none of them mentioned buying it early. They clearly understood what it meant for the weapon to be bound.

"Friend, can I ask where you got that blade? I'm willing to pay for the information!" Call Me Martial God asked.

"It was a reward from a unique hidden quest. You probably can't get that quest anymore!"

Wang Qianduo thought about it, then decided to lie. He couldn't exactly tell them it had come from the first top-up reward of six yuan.

"Ah, then I guess it wasn't meant to be!"

"Enough of that. Let's focus on the Instance Dungeon. With Brother Thousand King's help, maybe we can try the Nightmare Dungeon today," Sword of Miracles said, the first to collect himself.

The Minghong Blade's stats were astonishing this early in the game, but that was all.

They were all seasoned veterans. They'd seen every kind of equipment.

Then they continued clearing monsters. This time, Song in the Clouds didn't just pull three at a time. He pulled them all at once; that was their usual level.

He'd only pulled three earlier to test how strong Wang Qianduo was. If Wang Qianduo hadn't been up to the task, they had a way to fight with less pressure.

Now that they knew his attack was so high, they didn't need to hold back anymore.

"His attack doesn't add up. Even with that weapon, it shouldn't be that high."

While they were killing monsters, Bright Moon over the Blue Sea sent a private message to Call Me Martial God. It looked like seven of them weren't putting much pressure on the group, either.

"I noticed, but don't go asking about it."

"Why not?"

"You think those two didn't notice? If they hadn't, they wouldn't be the Rose Duo.

They clearly didn't call him out because they realized Thousand King was the sort of person who liked to keep his cards close to his chest, and they wanted to recruit him.

If we bring it up, won't we just push him toward them?"

"You want to recruit him too? Honestly, his gameplay is pretty average. He doesn't seem worth developing."

"Whether he's average or not, at this stage he has an absolute advantage. With someone like him, leveling up will be a lot easier for us.

"More importantly, we can't let those two recruit him without a fight. Got it?"

"Oh~ I understand!"

The four of them tacitly chose not to bring up the problem with Wang Qianduo's attack power. Each of them was thinking about recruiting him.

Wang Qianduo didn't know any of that. He was having a great time killing monsters. Sword of Miracles really lived up to his reputation as a professional player.

The way he pulled monsters looked perfect to Wang Qianduo. Every time, he seemed to know exactly how to draw them into the position where Wang Qianduo could attack most comfortably.

Having a teammate like that was wonderful. Wang Qianduo only had to swing his blade and watch the monsters fall.

Soon, they had cleared all three waves of Dire Wolves before the first boss. Next, they would face the first boss.

The group was recovering in front of a huge Status Recovery Stone. This was the recovery item Call Me Martial God—Sister Cat's name for it—had mentioned.

Players could recover their Mana Mech's HP and MP within a certain range of it. It was pretty amazing.

"The first boss in the Dark Forest is the Dire Wolf King, a high-attack, high-speed boss. Let's see Sword of Miracles do his thing!"

"Okay!"

Once they had recovered, the group came to a stop in front of an enormous Dire Wolf.

It was so huge that even lying down, it was about as tall as their Mechs.

Dire Wolf King

LV5

Leader

HP3700

MP500

Attack100

Defense20

Skills: Ambush, Bite to Shreds, Earth Spike, Wolf King's Roar

As the others talked, Wang Qianduo used Insight to check the Dire Wolf King's stats and sent them to the Chat Channel.

Everyone: "..."

"Brother, you've got a Reconnaissance Device?"

"Just got lucky, just got lucky!"

"You're way too lucky!"

Because they were inside their Mechs, they could only hear Wang Qianduo's voice and couldn't see his smug expression, so they all assumed he was being modest.

Wang Qianduo had no idea what a Reconnaissance Device meant to the professional players in front of him.

Their club had gotten people into the game long ago, so when they started playing, their Guild had prepared full sets of newbie equipment for them.

But the one thing they hadn't been able to get was a Reconnaissance Device for players below level ten. There was a reason it was known as the rarest piece of equipment.

A low-level Reconnaissance Device, one that countless major Guilds hadn't been able to find, had appeared right in front of them. They could hardly believe it.

But the group were all "seasoned veterans," and they quickly—by sheer force of will—composed themselves.

They'd been confident they could handle this boss already. Now that they knew its stats, it was an even greater advantage.

"Sword of Miracles, get ready to engage. We'll use basic attacks for damage. We don't have an off-tank, so save your skills to interrupt its roar. Be careful not to deal too much damage and steal aggro.

"Engage!"

At Call Me Martial God's command, they immediately charged toward the Dire Wolf King.

The Dire Wolf King was roused. Sword of Miracles led the charge, piloting his Mecha with an air of immovable resolve as he faced the boss.

The Dire Wolf King swiped with a claw, but Sword of Miracles deflected the attack with his shield, then stabbed it in the armpit.

Weak Point Break-58

After a Weakness Attack, Sword of Miracles immediately began charging. A second later, the charged sword strike landed right on the Dire Wolf King's claw as it turned back toward him.

Broken Attack-53

The blow interrupted the Dire Wolf King's attack again, keeping him from taking any damage.

"Aggro's stable. You can attack!" Sword of Miracles's confident voice came from inside the towering Mecha, equipped with sword and shield.