Before he knew it, it was already midnight.
Oracle World was still bustling.
According to the system's real-time data, Cloudside Town currently had 98,352 players online!
The online rate was a staggering 98%!
What other game could boast that kind of popularity?
Of course, the fact that it was Friday had plenty to do with it.
Tomorrow was the weekend, so students had no classes and office workers had no work.
Naturally, plenty of people would be staying up all night!
Lin Mo remained far ahead of the crowd.
While players everywhere were still teaming up to grind in level 5-6 wilderness zones.
And even the level 7-8 zones had barely any players.
Lin Mo had already arrived alone at the Lv. 10 Flame Forest.
Scorching flames burned throughout the vast mountain forest.
Humanoid monsters wreathed in fire, [Fire Demons], roamed among the trees.
Killing Fire Demons gave a chance of dropping the equipment material [flame soul].
Lin Mo took out the Brave Golden Bow and stepped into the Flame Forest without another word.
Roar...
Up ahead, a Fire Demon spotted the intruder and charged toward Lin Mo with a roar.
He waited until it entered his effective range of 50 yards.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Lin Mo opened with two arrows, both striking the Fire Demon precisely.
-558 (critical hit)!
-558 (critical hit)!
Before the poor Fire Demon could even make out its enemy, its 640 HP was drained in an instant.
It dropped to its knees and died.
[Ding~ Killed a level 10 Fire Demon. EXP +200!]
Looking at the tier 2 orange-grade Brave Golden Bow in his hand, Lin Mo couldn't help marveling, "Tier 2 equipment really is a beast!"
At the same time, a combat notification sounded in his ear.
[Ding~ The Brave Golden Bow's equipment effect, Heroism, has activated: attack +30 (1/3) for 60 seconds!]
Lin Mo walked over to the Fire Demon's corpse and picked up only four copper coins.
There was no flame soul to collect.
Clearly, the drop rate for flame soul wasn't 100%.
Stepping over the Fire Demon's corpse, Lin Mo locked onto another nearby target.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Another two arrows flew out.
-603 (critical hit)!
-402!
[Ding~ Killed a level 10 Fire Demon. EXP +200!] [Ding~ The Brave Golden Bow's equipment effect, Heroism, has activated: attack +30 (2/3) for 60 seconds!] [Ding~ You picked up flame soul!]
After shooting down three Fire Demons in a row, the Brave Golden Bow's Heroism effect reached its full three stacks.
Lin Mo's attack had now reached its peak: 472!
In this state, a critical hit could kill a Fire Demon in a single arrow. He didn't even need a second shot!
And his triple-digit agility of 112 gave him a critical hit rate of over 90% against level 10 mobs!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
-693 (critical hit)!
-693 (critical hit)!
-693 (critical hit)!
Lin Mo killed one Fire Demon with every arrow. It was ridiculously satisfying!
Flame soul had a drop rate of one in three.
Lin Mo killed around a hundred Fire Demons before finally collecting 30 flame souls!
Meanwhile, he reached level 9!
He quickly moved on to the next location: the Lv. 10 Flame Mountains.
The Fire Monkeys here were level 10 monsters, just like the Fire Demons.
A critical hit killed them in one arrow.
Without a critical hit, it took two.
Killing them was as easy for Lin Mo as slaughtering chicks!
Flame gems also had a drop rate of one in three.
Lin Mo killed around a hundred Fire Monkeys and collected 30 flame gems.
The mine was his final stop.
He needed to kill level 10 Stone Lions and collect silver iron.
At that moment, a five-player team with an average level of 6 came to the mine in pursuit of greater rewards.
They hadn't been very confident at first.
But when they saw a young man holding a bow kill a Stone Lion with a single arrow inside the mine.
They instantly grew excited and confident!
The girl with long, wavy hair in their party widened her eyes in admiration. "Wow, that guy's amazing! He can kill a level 10 Stone Lion with just one arrow!"
A bespectacled man adjusted his glasses, his face full of disdain. "Amazing? I don't think so. Looks like we picked the right place! The monsters here might be high-level, but they can't take a hit!"
"Come on, let's go grind too!"
The five confidently entered the mine.
Less than half a minute later.
The bespectacled man and another, chubby man were slaughtered by Stone Lions and turned into white light.
The other two women and one man were beaten until they screamed for their parents.
They had walked in upright.
And crawled out of the mine flat on their stomachs.
Not daring to look back, they fled the mine for their lives...
Lin Mo sighed helplessly. "Don't run! Stay and keep me company..."
"I'm so lonely, so empty inside..."
After killing Stone Lions for half an hour, he finally collected 30 pieces of silver iron.
Lin Mo let out a relieved breath. "I've finally collected all the materials!"
"Once I go back and finish crafting the equipment, I can take down the boss!"
Filled with excitement and anticipation, Lin Mo turned and left the mine.
On the way back to Cloudside Town, Lin Mo checked his level progress: level 9, 95%!
He was only one step away from level 10!
"I'll grind a few random monsters on the way to reach level 10, then complete my class advancement back in town. That'll make taking the boss even more of a sure thing!"
Just six hours after the servers opened, Lin Mo was already reaching level 10.
He clearly remembered how, in his previous life, his weakness and the Troubled Times Guild's constant bullying had kept him in the beginner village for three whole days!
By comparison.
In this life, Lin Mo really did seem like he was cheating!
Lin Mo felt as though he had endless energy.
He was even a little reluctant to leave the beginner village so soon.
"I haven't even had much of a chance to bully Wang Junjie yet!"
Lin Mo knew full well that before level 10, Wang Junjie was at his softest, juiciest, and easiest to bully!
Before their level 10 class advancement, players couldn't learn skills. PvP was purely a contest of stats, with no technique or mechanical skill involved.
So no matter how many Troubled Times Guild players Wang Junjie commanded, they were nothing but cannon fodder to Lin Mo.
But once they reached level 10.
Archers had Ice Arrow!
Mages had Ice Cone Spell!
Knights had Shield Bash!
Wizards had Halo Spell and Death Bind!
These class skills came with powerful crowd-control effects that could make anyone's skin crawl and immobilize them in an instant.
"By then, even if my stats are ten times theirs, a few dozen wizards could gang-fuck me with crowd control. Even if each one only deals one point of guaranteed damage, they could still kill me!"
After all, Oracle emphasized fairness. Even top whales who spent tens of millions weren't absolutely invincible.
So...
"Before I hit level 10, Wang Junjie, hurry up and come out so I can bully you again!"
Just as he said that.
A familiar voice came from nearby-
"On your knees!"
"I said get on your knees!"
In an open patch of woodland.
Surrounded by a large crowd of players with [Troubled Times] IDs above their heads.
Wang Junjie held a magic bow and stood with his foot on a young man, roaring arrogantly at several trembling young women in front of him. "So you won't kneel?"
"Fine!"
With that, Wang Junjie drew his bow and fired several arrows in rapid succession, killing [Skinny Monkey] and [Pang Dahai] on the spot as Troubled Times players pinned them to the ground nearby!
When he pointed his bow at Wind Soughs Sadly beneath his foot.
The girls panicked.
"No! Don't kill Ling Xiao!"
"We'll kneel!"
Calm and Unruffled, Sweet Sweet Sweetie, and the other female college students who followed Wind Soughs Sadly all knelt before Wang Junjie in tears.
They were ordinary people, and they knew that offending someone like Wang Junjie wouldn't just cause trouble this once. It would make their entire future in Oracle World miserable.
Looking at the girls, who bitterly resented it yet had no choice but to submit to him.
Wang Junjie's twisted heart swelled with satisfaction.
He ground his foot into Wind Soughs Sadly's face, leaned down, and grinned viciously. "Trash like you thinks he can steal my woman? Are you worthy?"
"Once you graduate and get a job earning four or five thousand a month, you won't make as much in your whole fucking life as I spend sleeping with one woman! What makes you think you can compete with me?"
The Troubled Times Guild players around them burst into laughter.
Other onlookers shook their heads and sighed.
"This isn't a showdown between second and third on the Heaven Ranking. It's a struggle between two social classes!"
"Exactly! I know them both! They're students at Ning University, but one's a rich kid and the other's just a poor student! They don't live in the same world!"
"Then why did they end up fighting?"
"I think it was over a girl? I'm not too clear on the details!"
Despite all the humiliation, Ling Xiao felt no shame over his own wretched predicament.
Instead, he humbly pleaded with Wang Junjie:
"If you don't like Wanwan, just leave her alone... Wang Junjie, I'm begging you..."
"Ptooey!"
Wang Junjie spat at Ling Xiao and sneered:
"What the fuck does it matter to you whether I like her?"
"I just want to sleep with her. What are you going to do about it?"
"Aren't you supposed to be so capable?"
"Ning University's campus heartthrob!"
"The star student!"
"If you're so amazing, then show me what you've got and come fucking fight me!"
"Or you could convince Xia Wanwan to spend a night with me, and I'll let you two be together. How about that?"
Hearing this, Ling Xiao instantly clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot.
"Wang Junjie, fuck your mother!"
"Fuck off!" Wang Junjie kicked Ling Xiao far away.
"Sooner or later, Xia Wanwan will be my little fuck toy. When that happens, you can sit obediently on the sidelines and watch me fuck her!"
Just as Wang Junjie raised his demonic bow and aimed at Ling Xiao, ready to kill him.
"Wang Junjie!"
A sudden call rang out from the crowd.
Wang Junjie looked up impatiently. "What do you want with Daddy?"
When he saw a figure step out from the crowd.
His eyes instantly cleared, and his face turned ashen!
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