"What the fuck? What's that guy doing?"
"It takes him that many swings to kill a slime? I remember him killing one in a single hit earlier!"
"He's pretty handsome. Too bad he's trash!"
"I can't imagine how low his combat power must be!"
The people walking along the edge of the village stopped to watch Lin Yi repeatedly hack at the weak slime, clicking their tongues in wonder.
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Lin Yi swung his A-rank longsword, repeatedly slicing through the blue slime's body and sending blue blood splashing everywhere.
He currently had only 1 combat power and needed a full hundred strikes to kill this slime.
At one strike every two seconds, Lin Yi needed at least 200 seconds to kill even the weakest slime!
Fortunately, he only had one strike left!
Swish!
He raised his arm, preparing to deliver the final blow, when he suddenly heard an urgent shout from behind:
"Spare... the slime beneath your blade!"
Just as Lin Yi was about to kill the blue slime, a tall man suddenly charged over from the side.
He held an enormous battle-axe, his gaze vicious and his movements swift.
He swung his axe sharply upward, striking Lin Yi's blade hard.
The blade traced an arc through the air with a piercing metallic clang before falling helplessly to the ground, where it stuck in the dirt and trembled slightly.
The unexpected force knocked Lin Yi back several steps. He slowly raised his head to look at the man who had suddenly appeared.
The man stood at least two meters tall, with muscles as solid as steel. He wore battered but clearly extremely sturdy leather armor and held a massive axe.
His face bore the marks of weathering and battle, and his eyes held a vicious disdain.
Lin Yi looked at the man before him in surprise and uncertainty without saying a word.
The man said nothing either. He merely grinned, then planted a foot on the blue slime's body.
Blue liquid splattered everywhere, and the slime's body instantly became a puddle of goo.
[Participated in killing [Blue Slime]. Congratulations! Gained 1 second of lifespan and 1 experience point.] Level up!
Lin Yi rose from level 0 to level 1!
But his expression darkened for an instant before immediately returning to indifference.
In Zero Game, the last hit on a monster was particularly valuable, directly claiming half the rewards and experience from its death!
With a single stomp, this man had stolen half the fruits of his 200 seconds of effort!
All he could say was... the man had guts!
The man planted his huge axe on the ground, rubbed his chin, and looked at Lin Yi with an amused smile.
"Kid, I saw you struggling so hard to kill that thing, so I came over to help. You don't blame me, do you?"
The onlookers all fell silent, wanting to see how Lin Yi would handle this predicament.
Lin Yi nodded slightly and cast the man an indifferent glance.
Then he slowly turned and walked toward where his A-rank longsword had fallen.
Lin Yi pressed two fingers of his right hand together and lifted them slightly. The blade embedded in the dirt suddenly trembled.
Then the longsword abruptly broke free of the dirt and rose into the air, landing in Lin Yi's hand.
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Gripping the hilt, Lin Yi performed several flashy sword moves before swiftly sheathing his blade.
Shing!
Having finished, Lin Yi turned again, walked slowly up to the man, and extended his hand with a smile.
"My name is Yazi!"
"I know this is a beginner monster. Naturally, I can kill it easily."
"But I've practiced swordsmanship since childhood, and I wanted to use beginner monsters to hone my sword techniques and control my strength more precisely."
"As for blaming you? There's no need for that!"
"After all, we're both human, and being assigned to the same novice village is a kind of fate."
"If I argued with you over a single beginner monster, that would make me seem rather narrow-minded!"
Leaning on his huge axe, the man looked at the smiling Lin Yi and smacked his lips. Then he extended his right hand and shook Lin Yi's in a daze.
"My name is Ma Ke. Just now, I..."
Swish!
Lin Yi withdrew his hand, then swiftly turned and left.
He waved behind him, seemingly suppressing some sort of emotion, and said indifferently:
"Knowing your name... is enough!"
Lin Yi showed no unusual expression as he walked slowly toward the outskirts of the novice village under everyone's gaze.
Once Lin Yi was far away, the silent crowd instantly erupted into chatter.
"Holy shit! Pulling his sword over from a distance was so fucking cool!"
"And those sword moves! Flashy, but he's got some real skill!"
"I thought he was Bronze, but it turns out he's a King!"
"Could this... be what practicing swordsmanship since childhood gets you?"
"Using beginner monsters to control your strength? Interesting! I'll try it later!"
"And that broad-mindedness! Tsk, tsk. You can tell at a glance he's got the bearing of a big shot!"
"Exactly! When he walked over, I thought he was going to slash that big guy. I didn't expect him to shake his hand!"
"Enough talking! Everyone, hurry up and slash some slimes. Let's learn to control our strength!"
Excited, everyone drew their weapons and attacked the blue slimes.
The scene became utterly chaotic for a time, and the fragrance of blue-flavored jelly drifted through the air.
"Damn! I barely used any strength, and I still killed it in one hit!"
"My control's pretty good, then. The slime only lost half its health!"
"A slime only has 100 HP, and that Yazi swung at least dozens of times. How precise must his control over his strength be?"
"Exactly! It's not like his combat power could be in the single digits!"
"No wonder he's so strong. He's on a whole different level!"
Ma Ke, who had been standing frozen in place, suddenly came to his senses.
Lin Yi hadn't done anything out of line, yet somehow, he had felt a pang of dread.
It was like...
A venomous snake had set its sights on him!
He lifted his huge axe and swung gently at a slime beside him.
Bang!
The blue slime died instantly!
Ma Ke looked at the slime's corpse on the ground and fell into another daze, remaining speechless for a long time.
With his head slightly lowered and his expression dark as thunder, Lin Yi walked out of the novice village.
He had to admit that his handling of the situation had been nearly perfect.
After leveling up just now, his [Eye of Illusion Breaking] had failed to show him Ma Ke's personal information.
[Eye of Illusion Breaking] could reveal information about creatures whose combat power was no more than 1,000 times his own. This meant Ma Ke's combat power exceeded ten thousand!
Outside the village boundaries, players could kill one another!
If he had failed to control his emotions and gotten into a direct confrontation with Ma Ke, whose combat power was at least 10,000 compared to his own 10, that would have been truly unwise.
A failure to endure small things could ruin a grand plan!
But if he had acted like a coward, he wouldn't have been able to stomach it himself in the first place.
Secondly...
Didn't people love picking on easy targets?
Even if Ma Ke left him alone, more people would try to make themselves feel important at his expense!
Either situation would disrupt his leveling pace.
In a more serious scenario, Novice Village No. 4396, the starting point of his fresh start, might even become his end!
But Lin Yi had handled it cleverly!
Pulling his sword over from a distance had merely exploited a minor game mechanic: when out of combat, he could draw his weapon back into his hand from within a certain range.
Everyone else was new to the game and didn't really understand how it worked.
In just a few days, though, everyone would probably know.
As for the sword moves Lin Yi had used to show off, he had indeed dabbled in sword techniques in his previous life.
Practicing swordsmanship since childhood?
Fucking bullshit!
The bearing Lin Yi displayed had also been honed by ten years of experience in his previous life.
And Lin Yi's final display of generosity had actually been an act as well. Both openly and implicitly, he had been telling the man:
If you keep targeting me, you'll seem rather narrow-minded!
Lin Yi had successfully presented himself as a swordsmanship expert with an extraordinary bearing!
The plan was perfect, the execution was perfect, and the result was perfect!
But!!!
Some nobody had put him in such an awkward position?
Actually, if Lin Yi had talked a little longer, it wouldn't have been difficult to hoodwink Ma Ke into becoming his lackey.
But he didn't need one!
Although Ma Ke's kill steal hadn't delayed his leveling much this time.
If you dare steal my monster, I'll dare steal your life!
The corners of Lin Yi's mouth slowly curled upward as he murmured:
"Yazi... always repays a grudge!"