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Bjorn suddenly cried out in pain and gave a muffled roar, jerking his arm! Bai Xiaowen felt a tremendous force surge into him and stumbled backward, his back slamming into the stone wall by the roadside.

System messages:

"Your Vital Strike hit Imperial Army Great Hammer Warrior Bjorn, dealing 11 damage (ignores defense) and inflicting Severe Bleeding."

"Corrosion toxin took effect. Bjorn's all attributes decreased by 2 for 120 seconds."

"You suffered 6 concussion damage."

"This guy... his damage is so high! Just the force of the recoil took 6 Life Value from me!"

Bai Xiaowen was secretly shocked. Watching Bjorn rage like a wounded beast, he remained on high alert.

Both had been Vital Strikes, so why had Bjorn not died instantly like the auxiliary soldier?

Bai Xiaowen noticed the reason.

One important condition for a Vital Strike to be lethal was for the damage dealt to exceed one-third of the target's maximum Life Value! Clearly, the hulking Bjorn, with 10 points of Constitution, had as much as 100 Life Value. Bai Xiaowen's attack had been vicious, but it had dealt only 11 damage! It was still far from one-third.

Bjorn's pain stirred his ferocity. With a furious roar, he swung his two-handed warhammer and smashed it fiercely toward Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen turned and ran.

Although his Strength had dropped by 2 points, Bjorn still had 7 Strength remaining, more than enough to crush Bai Xiaowen. Not to mention his excellent equipment—if that two-handed warhammer so much as grazed Bai Xiaowen, his remaining 14 Life Value would probably be gone.

Moreover, Bjorn was under Severe Bleeding, losing Life Value every second! So long as the wound was not bandaged and healed, the longer this dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for Bai Xiaowen.

Fortunately, Bai Xiaowen had poisoned his dagger beforehand, lowering all of Bjorn's attributes by 2. His Agility had fallen to 4 as well, which was why he could not catch Bai Xiaowen. Otherwise, Bai Xiaowen would have been in serious trouble.

Bai Xiaowen swore he had never run so fast in his life. Anyone with a burly man swinging a massive hammer behind them would unleash one hundred and twenty percent of their survival potential. Fortunately, the constant system messages also gave Bai Xiaowen confidence that he could keep dragging things out.

"Bjorn lost 5 Life Value."

"Bjorn lost 7 Life Value."

"Bjorn lost 4 Life Value."

"..."

Whenever Bjorn tried to bandage his wound, Bai Xiaowen would haunt him like a ghost. Bjorn roared in fury again and again, forced to abandon his bandaging and resume chasing Bai Xiaowen. His strength gradually drained away as well.

With a thud, Bjorn's heavy body crashed to the ground.

Bai Xiaowen received one final string of system messages.

"Bjorn lost 2 Life Value."

"Imperial Army Great Hammer Warrior Bjorn has died. Battle ended."

"Your Basic Combat Specialty has increased to Level 4, and your Basic Weaponry (One-Handed Sword) Specialty has increased to Level 5!"

"Your Basic Weaponry (One-Handed Sword) Specialty has reached maximum level. Advance?"

Without hesitation, Bai Xiaowen chose yes and received another message: "You have gained the Advanced Weaponry (One-Handed Sword) Specialty. Current level: 1."

Bai Xiaowen let out a breath. With a light flick of his finger, the dagger spun across his fingertips. He felt that his control over it had become even more precise.

Only now had Bai Xiaowen finally caught up with the other Quasi-Awakened taking the trial in terms of Battle Specialty. Most Quasi-Awakened came thoroughly prepared, training every Basic Specialty they could to the maximum Level 5 before entering the Spirit Realm for the trial. Thus, once they entered the Spirit Realm, their specialties could advance into Advanced Specialties.

"Whew, I finally survived. Time to open a treasure chest and calm my nerves!"

The treasure chest Bjorn left behind was obviously of a higher grade. Even the backs of the eight summoned Loot Cards shimmered with silver light, looking quite high-end.

After killing Bjorn, Bai Xiaowen had also received an A-Tier evaluation and could draw three pieces of loot.

System messages:

"You obtained an Imperial Army Giant-Hammer Warrior Insignia."

"You obtained equipment: Steel Two-Handed Warhammer."

"You obtained Skill Book: Heavy Strike."

Bai Xiaowen felt a trace of regret. What interested him most was the finely crafted chainmail Bjorn wore. As someone with only 2 Constitution, a suit of fine chainmail would undoubtedly provide Bai Xiaowen with much greater survivability.

Unfortunately, he had not drawn it.

Strip it directly from Bjorn's corpse? That was not an option. Any fine equipment that was not "legitimate" loot would dissolve into Psionic Particles once removed from its original owner's body. There was no way to exploit a loophole.

As for why the linen clothes stripped from the auxiliary soldier had not vanished, that was because linen clothes were not equipment.

In the Spirit Realm, Awakened had to possess "ownership" of equipment before they could use it! This "ownership" meant that it could be taken out of the current world. For example, Bai Xiaowen possessed ownership of the Steel Two-Handed Warhammer he had just drawn. As long as he successfully completed the class advancement trial, he could bring the warhammer back to Earth World.

Without "ownership," Awakened could not benefit from an item's attack power, defense, or any bonus attributes.

A sharp sword that did not belong to its wielder was even worse than homeroom teacher Xiao Jinsheng's rusty iron sword—at least the rusty iron sword still had 1–3 attack power.

The explanation offered by the so-called experts was that the Psionic Particles within an Awakened's body could not resonate with "illegitimate" equipment, so naturally it could not display its power. Loot draws, quest rewards, and similar processes were methods of "legalizing" equipment and transferring ownership to the Awakened.

Furthermore, items from Earth could not be brought into the Spirit Realm unless they contained a large amount of Psionic Particles.

For example, Bai Xiaowen could bring the dagger, cloak, and blood dropped by Black Fang, the Elite Zombie Rat, into the Spirit Realm. However, his own machete, tactical backpack, water flask, steel crossbow, and so on could not be brought in.

Bai Xiaowen glanced at the Steel Two-Handed Warhammer. Its requirements of 8 Strength and 8 Constitution immediately put an end to any thoughts he had about using it, and he could only place the warhammer in Storage Space.

"I hate Bind on Pickup," Bai Xiaowen muttered, then turned to examine the Skill Book.

[One-Star Skill Book: Heavy Strike: Teaches you the Heavy Strike skill. After charging power for a short time, your next attack deals 150% damage. Requirement: 5 Strength.]

Bai Xiaowen had no interest whatsoever in this Skill Book. If it had been a spell, he would naturally have been willing to learn it, but a warrior skill was not compatible with his path.

After resting for a while, Bai Xiaowen headed to the deserted camp in the mountain hollow and began searching through it. This trip proved quite fruitful. He found:

Lionheart Empire currency: 3 gold, 24 silver, 11 copper (the Lionheart Empire used a decimal currency system: 1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins);

One warhorse (cannot be taken out of this world);

One military map of the Northern Frontier.

Bai Xiaowen also put the miscellaneous wooden barrels, bedding rolls, and other items to good use. He cooked a pot of hot soup, then rested by the campfire for two hours.

It had to be said that the Awakened's "fully datafied" bodies were indeed remarkably tough. Bai Xiaowen felt that he did not need sleep at all. After resting for a while, not only had his Life Value fully recovered, but his stamina had also been completely restored. He was back in peak condition.

"After an Awakened's body becomes datafied... they are no longer normal humans."

Bai Xiaowen clicked his tongue in amazement, his heart filled with emotion.