Entanglement

Squelch!

With an indescribable sound, Lord Xin pulled a long, mosaic-censored object from the Wild Boar King's rear.

This was the gore mechanic in World Tree. Whenever an overly bloody scene appeared, the game system automatically censored it with mosaics in the players' view.

"Eugh." Ironclad Heroism and Demacia both looked disgusted and stayed far away.

Even Big D, who was usually rather uninhibited, kept his distance from Lord Xin.

Now the Wild Boar King's aggro was completely locked onto Lord Xin, the culprit.

The Wild Boar King's eyes turned bloodshot, white vapor streaming from its nostrils as it charged straight at Lord Xin.

"Mother of mercy!" Lord Xin nearly threw away the spear in his hand from fright.

Watching the enormous boar rush toward him menacingly, Lord Xin muttered, "My ancestor was Zhao Yun, Zhao Zilong."

"How could Lord Xin be scared by a pig?" As he spoke, Lord Xin gripped the spear covered by an unknown mosaic and thrust it toward the Wild Boar King.

Lord Xin's face suddenly flushed red, veins bulging across it.

[Martial Valor]

This was one of the basic skills of the Warrior Apprentice class. It increased a game character's base speed and attack by ten percent.

Activating skills in World Tree was very simple. Players only needed to silently recite them in their minds, and the game system handled the rest.

Even later on, with skills involving extremely complex movements, players merely had to think the skill's name, and the system would execute it.

Of course, this built-in assist function could be disabled. Some elite players could activate their skills manually.

Unfortunately, Lord Xin was not that kind of elite player. Just as he said, his ancestor might have been Zhao Yun, but he himself was no Zhao Yun. His clumsy rookie spearplay

was sent flying in the very first exchange with the Level 5 Wild Boar King.

The Wild Boar King's furious strike landed a critical hit on Lord Xin's game character.

Lord Xin's HP instantly bottomed out.

The Wild Boar King scored first blood.

It was as if everyone heard a similar sound in their ears—though that was just a joke.

"Mother of mercy, Lord Xin died just like that. Now he has to level up all over again." Ironclad Heroism bared his teeth, gripping his wooden greatsword as he glanced at Big D. The two nodded in unison.

They leaped up together and slashed toward the Wild Boar King.

Crack, crack.

Having merely chipped off some mud armor, the Wild Boar King shook its body.

"-4" and "-3" floated above its head.

It cast a deeply disdainful glance at the two weak elves.

Perhaps the Wild Boar King was wondering why the elves it encountered today were so weak. Had the boars grown stronger? Perhaps before long, it would be time for boars to rule this ancient forest.

Just as the Wild Boar King was fantasizing about its piglets and grandchildren living happily in the forest, fucking cabbages,

there was a thunderous boom.

The ground beneath the Wild Boar King suddenly collapsed, catching it off guard and knocking it onto its back, exposing its soft belly.

Demacia shouted from afar, "Quick! Now's the time—attack!"

Demacia gripped his wooden staff, silver-white spiritual light shining from his eyes.

[Magical Thinking]

[Basic Elemental Control]

Demacia activated both at once. [Magical Thinking] reduced mana consumption and restored a small amount of MP.

[Basic Elemental Control] was the skill currently making Demacia's eyes glow white. It was also a skill that manifested differently for every player in World Tree.

It randomly assigned one of seven elements—water, fire, rock, grass, ice, lightning, or wind—and also affected later skill progression.

It was very similar to the Qi Refiners from Liyue. Qi Refiners also had to test their spiritual roots before they could learn corresponding skills.

Looking at the pit that had trapped the Wild Boar King, it was clear that Demacia's [Basic Elemental Control] was the rock element. This meant most of the skills Demacia learned in the future could only be rock-element skills.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... A barrage of crossbow bolts shot toward the fallen Wild Boar King's belly.

The moment Qi Lin saw the Wild Boar King fall, she activated the Dual Pistols class skill [Rapid Fire].

Squelch, squelch, squelch. The sound of arrows piercing flesh rang out, and a string of red damage numbers floated above the Wild Boar King's head.

"-31," "-29," "-32"...

The belly truly was a weak point second only to the eyes. The damage effect was remarkably high.

Seeing the Wild Boar King's HP nearly depleted, Ironclad Heroism, Big D, and Demacia all excitedly stepped forward to land the finishing blow. Maybe the person who dealt the final hit would receive more experience.

Unfortunately, heaven was not on their side.

The Wild Boar King entered its low-HP state and activated its second phase. Large patches of mud armor fell away, and spines grew from its back. It had successfully evolved from the Wild Boar King into the Porcupine King.

Unfortunately, by the time Big D and the other two reacted, the Wild Boar King had already completed its evolution.

As their wooden greatswords struck the Wild Boar King, the newly grown spines on its back shot out, stabbing toward the three of them.

"-11," "-10," and "-8" floated above the Wild Boar King's head as blades landed on it.

Meanwhile, "-109," "-110," and "-142" floated above Big D, Ironclad Heroism, and Demacia.

Demacia looked resentfully at his two teammates. Why had he taken the most damage from the same attack?

"I didn't expect it to have a low-HP phase." Big D was unwilling to accept it. Gritting his teeth, he said, "This one's a bit tough. We'll come back next time."

Unfortunately, they wanted to leave, but the Wild Boar King had no intention of letting them go. Its gaze locked onto Qi Lin, who was second on its aggro list.

As for who was first, of course it was Lord Xin, who had stabbed the Wild Boar King in the rear.

Upon spotting Qi Lin, the Wild Boar King recklessly fired every spine on its back at her.

The overwhelming barrage was no less imposing than Qi Lin's earlier [Rapid Fire].

Watching the spines fly toward her, Qi Lin knew there was nowhere to dodge.

Just as Qi Lin was about to close her eyes and wait to return to the respawn point to start over,

she heard rustling sounds pass by her feet. She waited for a long time, yet felt no attack.

"Officer sis, I'm here to help you."

Qi Lin opened her eyes at those words. Before her stood an exquisite white-haired elf girl—the girl Qi Lin had only recently met, Dun Qu Qi Yi.

Looking behind her, Qi Lin saw Lord Xin, who had just returned to Level 1, foolishly scratching his head with a grin.

Looks like he called Dun Qu Qi Yi over.

"Holy crap, a Level 5 powerhouse." Demacia was the first to notice Dun Qu Qi Yi's level, and he cried out in surprise.

"What are you making such a fuss about?" Qi Lin was just about to snap back when she noticed why the Wild Boar King's spines had not reached her.

They were paper dolls.

"-168," "-157," "-159"... floated above the paper dolls.

Paper dolls not even as tall as Qi Lin's calves stood in the paths of the spines. So the rustling Qi Lin had heard was the sound of the paper dolls passing by her.

Qi Lin knew this skill: [Paper Doll Technique], a skill of Inazuma's Onmyoji class that could block damage for players.

As for who had activated it, Qi Lin looked at Dun Qu Qi Yi beside her, above whose head damage notifications were popping up.

"-16," "-15," "-15"...

At that moment, Qi Lin thought, If I'd known, I would've chosen Fontaine's Scholar class too. It's so damn convenient.

Unfortunately, choosing the Scholar class meant being unable to enable the system's assist function. Qi Lin did not possess exceptional game control skills, so she might still have chosen the Dual Pistols class.