An Easy Victory

Chapter 16: An Easy Victory

After using all his skills, Lin Maoxian realized he had reached his peak. He looked at the Centurion standing not far away and said, "I'm ready, sir. Please make your move." As he spoke, he assumed the stance from the "Basic Skill—Defense Mastery."

"Good. Then take this punch!" Seeing the kid opposite him strike a fairly convincing pose, Lin Wu bellowed and charged at him.

Lin Maoxian had meant to meet the Centurion's punch head-on, but he saw a blur before him, and then his chest was struck. He barely felt any pain, though, as a prompt from the space sounded in his ears: "The Adventurer has been injured by the plot character Lin Wu. Since the injury cannot break through the Adventurer's defense, his life points have not been reduced."

Hearing the space's prompt, Lin Maoxian relaxed. It seemed that after using his skills, his strength and stamina were probably no lower than the Centurion's. His other attributes, however, were likely not as high. Judging by the speed he had just shown, Lin Maoxian's agility was definitely lower. He hadn't even had time to react, after all. The Centurion's agility had to be at least 20.

Though these thoughts filled his mind, Lin Maoxian still addressed the stunned Lin Wu. "Sir, I assume that means I've passed?"

A storm raged inside Lin Wu. He had put all his strength into that punch, and he knew exactly how powerful it was. Yet this new recruit had taken it and looked completely unhurt. Staring at his hands, Lin Wu wondered if he had grown weaker. Otherwise, how could he have failed to injure even a new recruit?

At the kid's words, Lin Wu came back to his senses and composed himself. "You've passed. Wait over there for now while I test the others." He then casually walked over to one of the other candidates. He had planned to use only seventy or eighty percent of his strength, but now he would give it everything he had. He wanted to find out whether his abilities really had declined.

When he reached the next candidate, Lin Wu waited for him to say he was ready, then punched him in the chest without another word. He put all his strength into the blow. Seeing the man fly backward and spit out a mouthful of blood, Lin Wu knew it wasn't his abilities that had declined. The first recruit was simply too strong. Without using his battle saber, it would be difficult to defeat him.

Lin Wu spent the rest of the time testing the other ten men. Without exception, each was sent flying by a single punch, coughing up blood. This only further proved how strong he was—and how far the first recruit's strength surpassed that of the others.

Once everyone had been tested, Lin Wu returned to the raised platform and addressed the crowd. "All right. Aside from those two, the rest of you are now Squad Leaders on a provisional basis. If you two have no objections, you've been eliminated. If you do object, you can challenge any two of them. The winners can become Squad Leaders." As he spoke, he pointed to the two Adventurers below who had been eliminated.

Lin Wu waited a while, but neither of the two showed any intention of challenging anyone. He continued, "All right, you're now Squad Leaders on a provisional basis. Once you've chosen your squad members, report to my tent. I'll update your tokens, and there'll be some benefits for you afterward. I hope you can get it done within fifteen minutes." Having said his piece, Lin Wu paid no attention to the crowd's reaction and went straight back to his tent.

Lin Maoxian noticed that the space still hadn't given him a prompt after Lin Wu finished speaking. He figured one would appear after they reported to the tent and received their tokens. Without another thought, he stayed where he was and called out to the Adventurers around him. "Everyone, I'm now a Squad Leader, so I can recruit members. I've already recruited four, and I need five more Adventurers. Anyone who wants to join can come over and sign up."

The other Squad Leaders followed his example and tried to recruit Adventurers, but their efforts weren't very successful. After hearing their calls, the Adventurers outside all surged toward Lin Maoxian. Clearly, they wanted to join his squad first. Everyone had seen Lin Maoxian's strength: he had taken a punch from the Centurion without suffering so much as a scratch. That showed just how formidable he was. The others had all been coughing up blood.

Lin Maoxian had already thought about which of the Adventurers crowding around him he wanted. When several of the ones he preferred stepped forward, he pointed them out. "Everyone, this mission is a battlefield mission, so I'm prioritizing the strongest Adventurers. You've all seen how strong these people are, so I'll take these five. I'm sorry to the rest of you." He cupped his hands toward the crowd to apologize.

The other Adventurers were disappointed not to have been chosen, but they didn't dare cause trouble. They had no choice but to head over to the other recruiters.

Lin Maoxian said to the five new recruits and the three who had joined earlier, including Tiger, "You're the team members I've recruited. Let's head to the tent and rest for a while. We can get to know each other better there." With that, he led the way toward the tent where they had been earlier.

Once they reached the tent, Lin Maoxian said to Xiao Zhang, who was inside, "Hey, I need to talk with them. Wait outside for a while."

Xiao Zhang agreed and went outside. Lin Maoxian turned to the others. "Let's go in." He led the way inside and sat down wherever there was space.

After everyone had taken a seat, Lin Maoxian addressed the five newcomers. "That kid who just went outside is a plot character in this world. Remember not to mention the space in front of him. He's not very strong, so when we're on the battlefield, I hope you'll look out for him if you can. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

When all five shook their heads to show they had no objections, Lin Maoxian continued, "Good. Let me thank you in advance. I'll introduce myself first. You can call me Adventurer. All my attributes are above 10, and my strength, agility, and stamina are all above 15. I also have a skill that greatly increases my strength and stamina when I use it. You've all seen it, so I won't go into detail."

After giving them a rough idea of his attributes, Lin Maoxian didn't wait for anyone to respond. "Now, introduce yourselves too. Tiger, you as well. It'll help everyone get to know one another and work together later."

The impatient Eel immediately spoke up. "I'm Eel. My attributes are average, but I have a skill that increases every Adventurer's agility by 3 points."

Tiger, sitting beside him, spoke as well. "I'm Tiger. I don't have any skills, and my attributes aren't as high as the leader's. My strength and stamina have reached 15, and my agility is above 10. My other attributes are average."

Shasha, the only woman there, seemed a little uncomfortable when so many people looked at her. "I'm Shasha. My attributes are all average, except my intelligence, which is higher because of my skill. During battle, my skill can restore a total of 50 life points for everyone."

After Shasha finished, Lin Maoxian said to the other five, "Shasha is basically the healer of an online game. I hope you'll prioritize protecting her on the battlefield. Is that all right?"

"No problem." "Of course." The five responded at once. With someone in the squad who could heal them, their lives would be much more secure.

After that, the one with a scar on his face was the first of the five to introduce himself. "Just call me Scar. I don't have any skills. My strength and agility are both 15, while my other attributes are about average, like yours."

After Scar came a skinny man sitting beside him. "I'm Slim. You can tell why from looking at me. I spent all my Source Points on agility, so it's over 20. As a result, my strength and stamina are also a bit higher, but neither has reached 10."

As soon as Slim finished, one of the fat men spoke up. "My name is the opposite of Slim's. You can tell from my build that I'm Fatty. I spent all my Source Points on stamina, which is over 20. My other attributes are about the same as Slim's."

Once Fatty had finished, Lin Maoxian turned to the last two. "That leaves you two. Go ahead and introduce yourselves." Lin Maoxian thought highly of them. When he had used his skill to inspect them, he'd seen that each had a powerful piece of equipment, and their attributes complemented each other perfectly.

The last two looked at each other, then one of them spoke. "I'm Key. My attributes are all average, but I have a piece of equipment that can temporarily reduce a selected attribute by 5 points for every target within a specified three-meter radius. It lasts for 10 minutes."

With everyone looking at him, the last man hurried to speak. "Just call me Knife. My situation is similar to Key's. My equipment can increase a selected attribute by 2 points for every target within a five-meter radius. It lasts for 15 minutes."

After hearing their introductions, Lin Maoxian didn't say much. Everyone had held something back, but those two had concealed more than the others. Otherwise, based on what they had just said, there was no way they would have placed eleventh and twelfth. It was normal for people to keep things to themselves when they didn't know one another well. He didn't want to expose them and make things awkward for everyone.