What to do when there's a sugar mama in the team? Enjoy it, of course!

At the city gate.

Chen Ming equipped the four new pieces of gear Qin Zhixue had given him.

"Hm?"

His eyes suddenly lit up the moment he opened his status panel to check the attributes.

"This... what the hell?"

These four Epic-grade items...

They all came with maxed-out rune stone bonuses!

[Black Rhino Meteor Armor, Constitution +1500!]

[Shadow-Bearing Blade, Strength +30!]

[Sky Feather Boots, Agility +30!]

[Jade Bracer, Recovery +150!]

A full three levels of attribute boosts!

Chen Ming blinked, stunned for a good while.

Not only did she provide the gear, but it came with rune stones already attached?

Wasn't this recruitment benefit a bit too generous?

He glanced at his current panel.

[Level]: 6

[Strength]: 95

[Constitution]: 5200/5200 (20%)

[Recovery]: 510 (19%)

[Agility]: 93

[Spirit]: 1520 (20%)

[Skills]:

[C-Rank-Hardened (lv.9)]

[SSS-Rank Defense (Max Level)]

[SSS-Rank (lv.0)]

His attributes had surged!

At level 6, his Constitution had broken through five thousand!

His Strength attribute was also nearing the century mark.

Having awakened Annihilation Strike, every point of Strength Chen Ming gained now represented a significant boost.

After all, it was calculated with a 10,000% multiplier.

"Brother Chen, are you going to the guild to smelt and reconstruct your gear to remove the rune stones?"

At this moment, Sun Yang walked over.

He was clutching his own retired gear with an excited expression. "Shall we go together?"

"Now?" Chen Ming asked.

Sun Yang nodded as if it were obvious. "Of course now. We need to remove the rune stones and add them to our new gear before we head out to the wild, don't we?"

Hearing Sun Yang's words, Chen Ming immediately realized the situation.

It was only his four pieces of gear that had the maxed-out rune stone bonuses.

This top-tier treatment was meant specifically for him.

"Brother Chen, should I take them over for you?"

Sun Yang asked.

Chen Ming gave a light cough and tossed his old gear to Sun Yang.

"You take them for me."

"You got it!"

Sun Yang took the gear and immediately ran toward the guild.

Only then did Chen Ming look toward Qin Zhixue.

He noticed she was currently chatting with Lin Wei.

Seeing Chen Ming look over, she cast a hurried glance before quickly averting her gaze.

The corners of Chen Ming's mouth curled into a smile.

He felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of pride.

What to do when there's a rich woman in the team?

Naturally, you enjoy it!

Soon, Sun Yang returned.

Chen Ming led the three of them out of the city gates, heading toward the location marked on the map.

Exotic Beast Forest.

Deep within a dense thicket.

Thud—

A massive red-shelled turtle crashed to the ground.

As an exotic beast with extremely high defense, it was covered from top to bottom in a thick, hard shell, as if encased in steel plates.

Yet, at this moment, the state of this Red-Armored Turtle was...

Split in two!

The massive shell had been sliced neatly down the middle!

The cross-section was smooth and flat, with embers of azure flames still lingering upon it.

[Killed Red-Armored Turtle (lv.7), EXP +110!]

[Obtained: Red-Armored Turtle-Beast Core (lv.7)]

Chen Ming stepped forward and pulled his blade from the carcass of the Red-Armored Turtle.

With a flick of his hand, the flames dissipated entirely.

If that's the case, the one-hour duration of my skill's stacking damage effect refreshes in real-time.

After entering the Exotic Beast Forest, Chen Ming had been curious about how the duration of Annihilation Strike was calculated.

Did it mean that once the first stack of damage began, everything would reset after one hour?

Or did every attack count as the start of a new duration?

The result was the latter!

Once he started stacking damage, as long as Chen Ming launched an attack within the hour, the duration would reset for another hour!

In this way, if it were a prolonged battle, there would be no time limit at all.

I can only say...

As expected of a mental-type SSS-rank skill!

It's damn impressive.

Not only is the duration long, but the stacking speed is also ridiculously fast.

Since entering the Exotic Beast Forest, aside from the first few exotic beasts he encountered, which allowed Chen Ming to stack for a while, he was now killing an exotic beast in nearly a dozen strikes.

And the speed was only getting faster!

Until just now...

Chen Ming's stacked damage had reached 6000%!

He had killed a level 7 Red-Armored Turtle on the spot with just two strikes!

One strike for Armor Piercing, two strikes to finish it off.

"Holy crap, 5400 on the first strike, and 11000 on the second?!"

"Brother Chen, your combat power is just terrifying!"

Not far behind, Sun Yang swallowed hard, dumbfounded.

He hadn't even managed to get a clear look at this Red-Armored Turtle.

Then he just saw Brother Chen charge forward.

Leaping into the air, he swung his blade twice.

Immediately after, the Red-Armored Turtle was slain.

Clean and efficient.

Without a hint of hesitation.

The key was this damage...

Ten thousand?!

What kind of concept is that?

To put it simply, he is a Level 3 B-rank Assassin.

With a 20% bonus from his class talent and the added stats from his epic-grade equipment, he reaches 66 points in Strength.

When facing an Exotic Beast of the same level, if he unleashes his attack skills at full power.

He can deal over 100 damage.

Yet now, Brother Chen's casual strike was a hundred times that amount!

"Miss, he..."

In another direction.

Lin Wei's eyes were wide open, filled with shock.

"This is just too absurd!"

How could there possibly be such high damage?!

Qin Zhixue could not answer Lin Wei either; she was equally astonished.

She knew that Chen Ming possessed the ability to stack attacks.

But she never expected it could be amplified to such a terrifying degree...

And it appeared to carry the Armor Piercing attribute as well.

Two strikes ended the battle against a Level 7 Exotic Beast.

Even she hadn't had the chance to launch an attack yet.

What kind of skill could possibly produce such an effect?

From the moment they entered the Exotic Beast Forest, Chen Ming had been constantly shattering Qin Zhixue's perceptions.

Until just now...

A Level 6 class-transferred individual, killing a Level 7 Exotic Beast in two strikes.

To be honest, even after witnessing the strength Chen Ming displayed during the test with her own eyes.

Qin Zhixue still felt that by teaming up with Chen Ming, she would be able to prove useful.

She was, after all, an SS-rank Holy Radiance Angel.

Among angel-type classes, she was an extremely rare existence.

Balanced in both offense and defense, with team buffs!

She was almost a perfect class.

But now, for the first time, Qin Zhixue felt a hint of doubt...

Whether she could truly coordinate with Chen Ming.

Or rather, could her role in the Morning Light Squad really become the "main force" she had imagined for herself?

At this moment, Qin Zhixue remembered something.

Her "team buff"—

[All attributes +20%!]

At the very least, this would certainly be of some help to Chen Ming.

However, the next second, Qin Zhixue realized something.

She was an SS-rank class.

Why was she...

Positioning herself as a support?