An Easy Victory

Chapter 16: An Easy Victory

After activating his skills and reaching his peak state, Lin Maoxian said to the Centurion standing nearby, "I am ready. Please, Centurion, make your move." As he spoke, he assumed the stance from his "Basic Skill: Defense Mastery."

"Good, then take this punch!" Seeing the young man opposite him adopt a decent-looking stance, Lin Wu let out a loud shout and charged forward.

Lin Maoxian had intended to meet the Centurion's punch head-on, but he only felt a blur before his chest was struck. He felt no pain, however, as the system prompt echoed in his ears: "The Adventurer has received damage from the plot character Lin Wu. As the damage failed to break through the defense, the Adventurer has suffered no loss of HP."

Hearing the system prompt, Lin Maoxian breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that after using his skills, his Strength and Constitution were not inferior to the Centurion's. His other attributes, however, were likely lower; based on the speed Lin Wu had just displayed, his own Agility was certainly not as high. He hadn't even had time to react, meaning Lin Wu's Agility was likely at least 20 points.

While these thoughts raced through his mind, Lin Maoxian said to the stunned Lin Wu, "Centurion, I believe I have passed."

Turbulent waves crashed in Lin Wu's heart. He had put his full strength into that punch, and he knew exactly how heavy it was. Yet, a new recruit had taken the blow as if nothing had happened, without a single injury. Looking at his own hands, Lin Wu even wondered if his strength had regressed; otherwise, how could he fail to injure a mere recruit?

Hearing the young man's words, Lin Wu snapped out of his daze and straightened his expression. "You have passed. Stand aside for now; I need to test the others." With that, he walked over to another participant. He had originally intended to use only seventy or eighty percent of his strength, but now he decided to go all out—he wanted to see if his own prowess had truly declined.

He approached the next candidate, and once the man signaled he was ready, Lin Wu didn't waste words and threw a punch directly at his chest, putting his entire strength into it. When he saw the man fly backward and spit out a mouthful of blood, Lin Wu realized his strength hadn't regressed—the first recruit was simply too strong. He wouldn't be able to defeat him without using his saber.

In the time that followed, Lin Wu tested the remaining ten men. Without exception, they were all sent flying by a single punch, spitting blood. This further confirmed his own strength, as well as the fact that the first recruit was far superior to the others.

Once everyone had been tested, Lin Wu returned to the high platform and addressed the crowd below. "Very well. Aside from you two, the others are now temporary Squad Leaders. If you two have no objections, you are eliminated. If you do, you may challenge any of them; the winner will become the Squad Leader." As he spoke, he pointed to the two Adventurers below who had clearly been eliminated.

Lin Wu waited a moment, and seeing that the two had no intention of challenging anyone, he continued, "Good. You are now the temporary Squad Leaders. Once you have gathered your squad members, report to my military tent. I will modify your tokens, and there will be rewards for you afterward. I expect you to be there within a quarter of an hour." Having said his piece, Lin Wu ignored the reactions below and returned to his tent.

Lin Maoxian noticed that even after Lin Wu finished speaking, the system had yet to provide a prompt, so he realized it would likely trigger once they received their tokens at the tent. Not dwelling on it, Lin Maoxian stood where he was and called out to the surrounding Adventurers, "Everyone, I have become a Squad Leader and am now recruiting subordinates. I have already recruited four, so I need five more Adventurers. Anyone who wishes to join may apply here now."

The other Squad Leaders followed suit, but their results were not ideal. The Adventurers outside the circle all flocked toward Lin Maoxian, clearly wanting to join his team first. Everyone had seen his strength—he hadn't suffered a single injury from the Centurion's punch, proving his prowess. After all, everyone else had ended up spitting blood.

Lin Maoxian had already planned for the crowd of Adventurers. Seeing that the ones he preferred had come forward, he pointed to five of them and said, "Everyone, this mission is a battlefield assignment, so I am prioritizing the strongest Adventurers. You have all seen their strength, so I will choose these five. To the others, I can only say I am sorry." He cupped his hands in apology.

Although the other Adventurers were unwilling to accept being passed over, they dared not cause trouble and went to the other recruiters instead.

Lin Maoxian said to the five new recruits and his three companions, Tiger, "You are the members I have recruited this time. Let us go to the military tent to rest and get to know each other." He led the way toward the tent they had occupied earlier.

Upon arriving, Lin Maoxian said to Xiao Zhang, who was inside, "Kid, we need to discuss some matters. Please wait outside for a moment."

Seeing Xiao Zhang nod and walk out, he turned to the group and said, "Let's go in." He led them inside and sat down wherever he could find space.

Once everyone was seated, Lin Maoxian said to the five new recruits, "The kid who just left is a plot character of this world. Remember not to mention the system in front of him. His strength is relatively low, so when we are on the battlefield, I hope you will look after him if it is within your power. Do you have any objections?"

Seeing the five shake their heads, Lin Maoxian continued, "Very well, I thank you all. Let me introduce myself first. You can call me Adventurer. All my attributes are above 10, and my Strength, Agility, and Constitution are all above 15. I also have a skill that significantly increases Strength and Constitution when used; I believe you have all seen it, so I won't explain it in detail."

After stating his general attributes, Lin Maoxian didn't wait for them to speak and said to everyone, "You should all introduce yourselves as well. Tiger, you guys speak up too, so everyone can understand each other and coordinate better in the future."

The impatient Eel spoke up immediately, "I'm Eel. My attributes are average, but I have a skill that can grant all Adventurers +3 Agility."

Tiger, sitting next to him, added, "I'm Tiger. I don't have any skills, and my attributes aren't as high as the Captain's. My Strength and Constitution are at 15, and my Agility is over 10. My other attributes are average."

Shasha, being the only woman, felt a bit uncomfortable with so many eyes on her. "I'm Shasha. My attributes are very average, though my Intelligence is a bit higher due to a skill. My skill allows me to restore HP for everyone during battle, recovering a total of 50 HP per use."

Lin Maoxian heard Shasha out and said to the other five, "Shasha is equivalent to a healer in an online game. I hope everyone will prioritize protecting her on the battlefield. No problems with that, right?"

"No problem," "It's only right," the five responded immediately. Having someone who could heal in the team meant their lives would be well-protected.

After that, the man among the five with a scar on his face introduced himself first: "You can just call me Scar. I don't have any skills. My Strength and Agility are at 15, and my other attributes are average like everyone else's."

Following Scar was a thin man sitting next to him: "I'm called Slim. You can tell why from my build. I spent all my Source Points on Agility, so it's over 20 points. Because of that, my Strength and Constitution are a bit higher, but they haven't reached the 10-point threshold."

As soon as Slim finished, a fat man spoke up, "My name is the opposite of Slim's. You can tell why I'm called Fatty. I spent all my Source Points on Constitution, reaching over 20 points. My other attributes are similar to Slim's."

After Fatty finished, Lin Maoxian turned to the last two. "Now it's just the two of you left. Tell us about yourselves." Lin Maoxian valued these two highly, as he had used his skill to see that they both possessed powerful equipment, and their attributes were perfectly complementary.

The two looked at each other, and one said, "I'm Key. My attributes are very average, but I have a piece of equipment that can force all targets within a 3-meter radius to temporarily reduce one specific attribute by 5 points for 10 minutes."

The last man, seeing everyone looking at him, hurriedly said, "You can just call me Knife. My situation is similar to Key's. My equipment's attribute allows me to increase a specific attribute of all targets within a 5-meter radius by 2 points for 15 minutes."

Lin Maoxian didn't say much after hearing their introductions, as everyone had held something back—these two had simply held back a bit more. Otherwise, they wouldn't have earned the 11th and 12th spots. It was normal to be cautious when they weren't familiar with each other, and he didn't want to expose them and cause unnecessary awkwardness.