Ye Fengxing was an Ancient Martial Artist, and his reaction speed was far beyond anything ordinary people could imagine! Put it this way: the world ordinary people saw looked like a movie playing in slow motion to him!
Anyone with reactions like that could become a superpowered fighter like Spider-Man, provided their body could keep up! Most firearms posed no threat to such people; only certain cutting-edge weapons could hurt them.
Ye Fengxing was undoubtedly one of those people-and one of the very best! Not to mention that his fighting style, "arriving without a shadow, leaving without a trace," had long made him famous throughout the world!
Yet a badass like him had actually been dazzled by someone's Charge... Sure, this was only a game, but it was still pretty incredible.
On second thought, though, that "person" was nothing more than a string of data. Naturally, he could move as fast as he wanted-even at light speed! However amazing Ye Fengxing was, trying to compete with the system inside a game was a complete waste of effort.
At the crucial moment, a solid foundation in ancient martial arts combined with a game skill had saved his life... In his panic, the guy had actually used Blink, instantly appearing twenty meters away!
Fast as the dark figure's Charge was, it still operated within normal concepts of speed. Blink, on the other hand, was pure magic! What was magic? Something seemingly illogical, almost nonexistent, mysterious and impossible to grasp... Those were the kinds of words humans commonly used to describe it.
In a game, magic was even more of a load of bullshit. The more supernatural, the better; otherwise, it hardly deserved to be called magic.
Blink could make someone appear twenty meters away in an instant-their position changed the very moment it activated! "Fast" was no longer an adequate description. The only things that could limit that "speed" were the caster's reaction time and internet connection.
It was already the year 2456. Technology advanced by leaps and bounds and had long since left the twenty-first century behind. Supposedly, gamers back then had frequently complained about a phenomenon that remained stubbornly alive despite being cursed by hundreds of millions of people for countless years. Apparently, that phenomenon was called "lag"...
Internet users in 2456 generally had no way of understanding what "lag" meant... They could only encounter it in history books and marvel, "The power of technology is truly incredible! We have such wonderful lives!"
For Ye Fengxing, reaction speed and internet speed were both problems that weren't problems, so he had fortunately Blinked to safety.
The towering dark figure was clearly astonished by the result, but he had no strength left for a second attack... Already terribly weak, he stumbled as he tried to take a step after his Charge, then collapsed unwillingly to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Despicable Dragonkin Mage, hurry up and finish me off!" the dark figure roared, lying on the ground with his eyes shut.
Ye Fengxing said nothing. Honestly, he still hadn't figured out what was going on... This hulking Tauren, who stood over three meters tall, was far too strange. He had collapsed after failing his Charge and now seemed determined to die. Ye Fengxing had no idea what he was playing at.
"Why haven't you done it yet?" the hulking Tauren roared again.
Ye Fengxing narrowed his eyes. The moment he heard this NPC speak, he knew the guy was definitely one of those NPCs with a "story"!
NPCs like these were highly intelligent. You had to be careful when talking to them; one careless remark could leave you regretting it for ten years!
This hulking Tauren was named "Dying Gladiator Adaric," and he was a full level 83! He was also a badass boss-tier character. Nothing about him looked simple!
Still, something about the big guy was strange. His health was 14/???. Ye Fengxing couldn't even see his maximum health, which meant his level was too high and his health pool too large for the system to display.
Stranger still, his current health was a miserable fourteen points. Didn't that mean... all Ye Fengxing had to do was casually lift a hand, and a level 83 NPC boss would turn into a glorious mountain of experience?!
He couldn't help getting a little excited! The experience bonus for killing monsters above your level was extremely generous, never mind a boss-tier NPC at such a high level! If he killed him, the experience could only be described as astronomical!
"No, no, no. Something's wrong here..." He forced himself to calm down and began carefully analyzing the possibilities.
First, a level 83 NPC could crush current players through level advantage alone. Generally, when the level gap exceeded five levels, players would get plenty of misses when attacking monsters. Beyond ten levels, they could barely land a hit at all. Any higher than that wasn't even worth discussing.
Monsters and people alike had some degree of dodge, parry, block, and armor, and all these passive attributes increased with level.
A miss meant the target's passive dodge was high while your accuracy wasn't good enough. Dealing zero or one damage meant the level gap was too large and your attacks couldn't penetrate their defenses.
Those were the two most common situations when attacking high-level targets. But now? Ye Fengxing had actually hit a monster sixty-eight levels above him and dealt more than one damage. That was downright impossible!
Second, why would a high-level NPC with only fourteen Health Points suddenly appear near the Dragonkin Starting Village in the Dragonrest Wilds of the Southern Islands? Wasn't that bizarre beyond belief? If someone killed him... well, according to the game's rules, it could take that person straight to the level cap!
After all, this was a boss-tier creature! And the level gap between them was a full sixty-eight levels!
Unless all the game designers at Blue Star had collectively lost their minds, Ye Fengxing refused to believe such a windfall could happen... Only a complete dumbass would snap up a "bargain" that outrageous!
"Greedy people become stupid without even noticing... Oh? You haven't become stupid yet? Well, that usually means the temptation isn't strong enough!" Those words came from one of Blue Star's game designers, and Ye Fengxing had to admit he was right!
Even with Ye Fengxing's tremendous self-control, he repeatedly felt the urge to fire a Flame Arrow at him... Fuck all the details! Just see whether he gives any experience first!
After silently reciting the Clearheart Mantra several times, he finally suppressed the impulse. He looked Adaric up and down a few times, narrowed his eyes, and asked, "May I ask who you are...?"
"If you're going to kill me, do it! Why all the pointless chatter?!" The big lug clearly had a lousy temper. Ye Fengxing hadn't even begun to get heated, but the other guy was already billowing smoke.
"Oh..." Ye Fengxing nodded theatrically, putting on an expression of perfect understanding. "Someone's hunting you down? And you thought I was with your pursuers?"
Ye Fengxing had always been good at deduction. Seeing the hulking Tauren's battered armor and bloodstained body, he had already guessed most of the situation... Remembering the big lug's violent reaction and fiery words only made that conclusion all but certain.
"You..." Adaric hesitated before asking, "Who are you?"
Ye Fengxing patted his Mage robes and smiled. "As you can see, I'm a Dragonkin Mage."
"Why did you attack me?"
"An accident. Purely an accident." Ye Fengxing spread his hands helplessly. "I was only trying to kill a Rainbow Centipede, but it dodged my spell, so... well, you know. This was all a misunderstanding."
After a moment's thought, Ye Fengxing added, "Otherwise, it wouldn't have been just one Flame Arrow coming your way. Believe me, I mean you no harm."
"So that was it..." Adaric tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath. "I'm sorry. I apologize for what I said earlier."
With those words, Adaric's name turned yellow, indicating a neutral status. Thank goodness for that, too. Otherwise, with a red-named boss sporting fourteen health hanging around beside them, anyone would be tempted to casually finish him off...
What followed finally resembled a normal quest scene. Adaric gave Ye Fengxing a brief account of his miserable experience. The guy's luck really couldn't have been worse: he had run into a level 90 Necromancer Archmage as soon as he arrived in the Southern Islands... The enormous difference in strength had left him thoroughly fucked up!
Fortunately, he was no pushover himself and had managed to escape using a lifesaving trump card! But his severe injuries had left him increasingly weak, and by now, he was almost dead.
Although Adaric was a Shaman Priest, he wasn't a Shaman Witch Doctor. He was a Temple Defender, skilled only in using elemental power to harm his enemies, not in healing his own injuries.
Watching his wounds worsen day after day, Adaric had fallen into despair.
Upon learning this, Ye Fengxing couldn't help smiling-and it was a decidedly sleazy smile... Thank heavens he had learned a skill called Clearflow Mending before coming here! He had originally only wanted to save on potions, never imagining it would prove so useful!
Clearflow Mending gradually healed a wounded target's injuries and restored 71-82 Health Points over fifteen seconds.
Although the skill could restore health, the amount was rather paltry... After all, it was a Mage's Frost School skill, so the healing was little more than a token gesture. Its main purpose was to remove negative effects such as injuries and bleeding. Anyone who took its healing seriously was a complete dumbass.
Even so, Ye Fengxing had to congratulate himself on his wise choice... Clearflow Mending might not restore much health, but even a bean bun still counted as food. He wasn't a healer; being able to learn any healing skill was already pretty good. Whining about it would only mean he was asking for a beating! After all, greed knew no bounds. He couldn't go taking lessons from Comrade Ironhead!
Clearflow Mending ticked once every three seconds, restoring roughly 48-51 Health Points each time. Ye Fengxing pulled up the skill and began furiously casting it on Adaric!
Unfortunately, it was a HOT skill. It restored a fixed amount over fifteen seconds, and casting it again during that period only replaced the existing HOT and wasted mana for no reason.
Because of that mechanic, Ye Fengxing had no choice but to patiently cast it on Adaric once every fifteen seconds. (HOT: in gaming, HOT does not carry the English word's original meaning. It stands for "Heal Over Time," a continuous healing effect, and is the counterpart to DOT.)
Everything had been going well. Adaric's name was gradually shifting from yellow toward green, indicating that their affinity was steadily increasing! Ye Fengxing believed that once their affinity passed a certain threshold, a quest might appear!
Everyone knew that quests issued by powerful, high-level NPCs like this came with first-rate rewards!
Things were heading exactly where Ye Fengxing wanted-until that incident occurred, shattering his hopes completely...
Before you continue