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nTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

n“I will fight with you after my sleep.”

nSilver Shield’s originally handsome face flushed red. He felt severely belittled by Lin Jie, who had effortlessly done so while maintaining his hilarious sprawled out position on the ground.

n“F*ck you, you are looking for death!” Silver Shield was enraged. Though he was a Shield Specialist, his battling skills were not to be trifled with. He only needed a few strides to close the gap between him and Lin Jie before smashing his shield down on Lin Jie’s face.

nBang!

n-45!

nLin Jie’s health bar was decreased by about one-seventh portion. Though he had been trapped in the Soul of the Giant Demon dungeon for a long time, the series of climbing achievements coupled with his unique way of increasing his stats points had resulted to him gaining a lot of health points. Lin Jie’s health points were definitely comparable, if not more than Silver Shield’s health points, who was now at 95% of Level 4.

nIn response to Silver Shield’s attack, Lin Jie did not make any move to retaliate. He merely raised his eyes lazily, looking like he had just awoken from his sleep. Yet his eyes swiftly scanned his surroundings—there were about 40 players from the Ironwall Empire, all averaging at level 3. As long as he was not attacked by all of them at once, he should not have any problems getting away.

nSilver Shield was still smashing his shield at Lin Jie fervently, bent on making a meat pie out of him.

n“I want to ask you something.” Lin Jie suddenly inquired, “Is the Castle Wood Dungeon open for exploring?”

nSilver Shield was momentarily stunned by this question in the midst of his smashing actions. He stopped instinctively, pondered and replied in a hostile manner, “It’s still ages before the dungeon opens! What, you still hope to go there to explore? Save your time—just be concerned about your own measly life!”

nLin Jie heaved a sigh of relief, rolled over and said, “Okay, continue now.”

nSilver Shield was stunned once again, after which he became even angrier. Lin Jie only had about 120 health points now, yet even so, did he still regard him as nothing? No one… not even a saint would be able to tolerate this!

n“Shield Strike!”

n-95! (Critical Hit)

n“Stop!” Lin Jie said hurriedly. This Critical Hit had nearly killed him instantly.

n“Is this your last word? Ha, goodbye! Go to hell!” Silver Shield smiled coldly as he raised the shield in his hands.

n‘Blade Aura Executioner!’

nLin Jie shot out a gust of Blade Aura. The attack under his Death Rage mode was super effective and killed Silver Shield immediately. The poor fellow was still positioning himself, attempting to deal out his last Shield Strike in a dashing manner. How could he have anticipated Lin Jie’s strong outburst?

nPicking up the few Health Potions spawned by Silver Shield, Lin Jie prepared himself to read the returning scroll to return to the town.

n“WTF!? Leader Silver Shield is dead!”

n“Gosh, he’s really dead, everyone let’s charge!”

nIt was only then that Silver Shield’s followers realized he was dead—hopelessly dead. They made a mad dash towards Lin Jie. Lin Jie’s eyes scanned the crowd for Mages and Priests while shooting out several gusts of Blade Aura. He killed all these level 3 newbies who only donned Blank equipment almost instantly. But his name once again turned red, wasting all the efforts he made previously to refresh it.

nThe system notification kept ringing in his ears.

n——’You have killed a commoner, your evil score 1.’

n——’You have killed a commoner, your evil score 1.’

n…

nLin Jie turned off the system notification altogether. He had no energy to deal with those now.

nIn just a mere 10 minutes, Lin Jie killed all of the players from the Ironwall Empire who were present at the Dark Servants’ spawning grounds. After doing away with them, Lin Jie started considering how he should plan his next move. He was lacking behind by loads, and not only just regarding his level. Any further delay in progress would make him fall behind the one month’s time limitation. He must find a way to settle down and make a name for himself in the game, or else he would be gone unnoticed within the midst of players in the game, just like what happened in his previous life.

nDong Dong!

nThe sound of footsteps thundered in his ears. Far away, an army of players began to approach him at an alarming speed. The reinforcements from the Ironwall Empire had arrived! The leader of the mob looked familiar. He was donning the full Sharp Clawed Set spawned from the Cat Demon Lair dungeon and swinging a Silver Shadow Sword around. It seemed like the Ironwall Empire had conquered the Expert-level Cat Demon Lair dungeon.

n“Fu Sheng!”

nStanding in front of the hundred-person army, a cold smile appeared on Mighty Wings’s face. “Yeah, an ‘expert’ indeed—to have remained at the same level after so many days?”

nLin Jie replied without flinching, “Same to you.”

nMighty Wings’s expression turned hostile. He had just recently achieved Level 4, and this was not due to his laziness but because he had joined the Ironwall Empire under rather shameful conditions. He was highly disregarded by the team and was in charge of testing out traps and luring monsters, while the rest of his team members pocketed the gains from killing monsters. In essence, he was just a… nobody.

nEven so, he bore with this treatment and managed to win some name for himself, while getting the equipment that was left over by others. Eventually, he was given the title of the team captain. This gave him a great boost in his pride. However, just half an hour ago, when Mighty Wings returned to the Netherblue Party to invite Netherblue and Qiu Yuan to join the Ironwall Empire, he was given the cold shoulder by the two girls.

nFeeling beaten, Mighty Wings returned to his team and heard the news of Fu Sheng’s appearance on the cliffside. He immediately led whoever would listen to his commands and rushed over there.

n100 players were enough to cover the whole of the Dark Servants’ spawning grounds.

n“Kill, and guard his corpse,” said Mighty Wings coldly.

nLin Jie looked back at the cliff. ‘Wtf? Do I have to jump down the cliff again? Tackle a hundred-person army all at once? Are you kidding me?’

nIn his previous feat, if not for the fact that Silver Shield had dim-wittedly forgotten to gather all his followers to attack Lin Jie all at once, Lin Jie would have been killed by the crowd, even if he had the capabilities of a Boss.

nAs Lin Jie tried to think of ways to escape, he suddenly caught sight of a scroll giving off specks of bright light in his bag.

nThe Scroll of the Giant Demons’ Death! A number had appeared on the scroll, 17.

nLin Jie took a few steps back, and the number rose to 23 accordingly. This was the number of Giant Demons present within the radius of 2000 yards! Lin Jie walked back to the cliffside, and the number rose to 38.

n“Hpmh, chickening out now?” Mighty Wings laughed sarcastically. “Or do you intend to jump down the cliff again? No worries, I will definitely help you return to your beginning stats this time!”

nLin Jie laughed merrily, took out the Scroll of the Giant Demons’ Death from his bag and opened it slowly.

nMighty Wings panicked. ‘What is he up to again this time?’ He shouted, “Charge!”

nAs a light tearing sound of the scroll was heard, the Scroll of the Giant Demons’ Death turned to ashes. At the same moment, a Giant Demon head-like spirit gathered above Lin Jie’s head. It opened its blood-red mouth and started absorbing the souls from the grounds below the cliff, swallowing them all in one mouthful.

n——’You have killed Federal Giant Demon Elder Kalamo·Muja, you gained 27374 EXP points.’

n——’You have killed Federal Giant Demon Priest Kalamo·Seya, you gained 29384 EXP points.’

nLin Jie’s experience points started to rise like crazy!

nHow difficult was it to level up in The New Age? In his previous life, the first expansion pack of The New Age was in operation for four full years, and no one had attained the highest level. In fact, when The New Age’s creators had released its second expansion pack and announced that they would raise the maximum level cap, numerous players had voiced their complaints. No one had enjoyed the benefits of killing Bosses at the highest level yet, and that time they had wanted to raise the maximum level cap? What logic was that?

nIn the end, after a few years, the players had finally understood. No matter how hard one worked, there was absolutely no way of attaining the highest level. ‘Infinitely raising your gaming capabilities’ was the notion encouraged by The New Age’s creators.

n——’You have leveled up to Level 4, and gained five free Stat Points and two fixed Stat Points.’

n——’You have leveled up to Level 5 and gained five free Stat Points, two fixed Stat Points, and one Speciality Point. Specialty Points allow you to learn how to use weapons and equip yourself with new skills. Choosing to specialize in an appropriate weapon will allow you to gain a huge boost in your abilities.’

nJust in the blink of an eye, Lin Jie had leveled up to Level 5!

nThe players from the Ironwall Empire were filled with shock and horror as they witnessed that scene. They all thought, ‘What, just by tearing a scroll, you got to level up to Level 5? Who are you trying to kid? Killing a full week of monsters can earn you fewer benefits than tearing up a mere scroll?’

n“Stop staring, go on!” Mighty Wings shouted angrily.

nFireballs, arrows and arcane spells were strewn at Lin Jie. Yet Lin Jie’s health bar had elongated visibly multiple times. He had swiftly allocated his Stat Points to appropriate places.

nLin Jie activated the Hunter’s Forward Charge, speeding towards Mighty Wings like a swift black shadow.

n-17!

n-12!

nCountless attacks were aimed at him, yet many of them did not hit their target.

nAt the same time, three Shield Specialists stood in Lin Jie’s path and activated Defense mode, hoping to block him off.

n“Wild Charge!”

nDuring the Forward Charge mode, Lin Jie also activated Wild Charge, and his speed was so fast that almost no one could catch sight of him. They could only feel a gust of wind blowing by them. Lin Jie maneuvered his way through the crowd and reached Mighty Wings’s place in the blink of an eye.

n“You’re courting for death!” Mighty Wings’s face flushed red from shouting, and his chest protruded out in an astonishing arc akin to that of a bloated toad. This was a skill of the Warrior which could be controlled by their angry shouts, named the Outraged Roar. It could stun the targets in front of the warrior and left them dizzied for near to three seconds. It was definitely a highly sought-after skill. Mighty Wings had made use of nearly all his contributions to the team in exchange for this rare skill.

nLight emanated from Lin Jie’s right hand, and Mighty Wings discovered that the energy that filled up his chest started to disappear gradually.

n‘Light Empathy!’

nLin Jie’s cold face appeared in Mighty Wings’s field of vision, but before he could utter other words, the Broken Blade made a clean slice across his throat. With gushes of Blade Aura surrounding them, his head flew apart from his body. Lin Jie, on the other hand, almost depleted his entire health bar after being blasted by the numerous attacks targeted at him.

nThe reason why he could survive for so long was simple; he had allocated all his available fixed Stats points to increase his health bar.

nSpells of all kinds were strewn upon Lin Jie.

nDeath Rage!

nWith a vigorous surge of energy, Lin Jie doubled his speed and was soon nowhere to be seen by the crowd.

nBefore leaving, he did not forget to collect the items spawned by Mighty Wings—and guess what he picked up?

nThe Outraged Roar Skill Book.

n———

nThe death of players in games would normally result in heavy consequences. The lightest of which would be to lose EXP points, while heavier losses included the spawning of equipment. The most unbearable would perhaps be the loss of skills.

nTo be honest, in any game, it was inevitable for players to gather in crowds and use the mob attack strategy to kill Bosses. When the death of a Boss was deemed more valuable compared to the players’ death, people would tend to resort to this attack strategy. So what if their equipment was spawned when they died? Just collect them back again. You got leveled down? The EXP points awarded for killing the Boss would definitely help to cover up your loss. As a result, players started to disregard the consequences of getting killed and normally did not bother much when they died in games.

nTo discourage this phenomenon, The New Age’s creators had set a strict rule regarding the death of players. If a player died more than 10 times in the game during a day, there would be a fixed chance that their skills learned would be reverted to Skill Books and be spawned upon their deaths. Even if they were to re-learn that particular skill, their proficiency in that skill would never be as high as before.

nIndeed, after a few years of operating the game, this rule proved to be very effective.

nUnfortunately for Mighty Wings, this aspiring member of the Iron Empire had died for the 10th time for the day—the efforts that he made by dying previously for his team were now gone to naught. That poor kid, the only useful skill he ever owned was even spawned out as a Skill Book when Lin Jie killed him.

nAs Lin Jie reached safety, he finally breathed out a sigh of relief. At that moment, his communication device started ringing fervently.

nTwo people had tried to get in contact with him. One was named as Innocent Killer. Lin Jie only knew of one person who would give himself such a shameless nickname, Zheng Ziliang. Indeed, when he opened that particular chat log, a salacious-sounding voice rang out, “Darling Little Jie, do you want big brother to take you under my wings?”

nZheng Ziliang was one of Lin Jie’s best friends in real life. In his previous life, it was all thanks to him that Lin Jie had the guts to leave his family to pursue the career of being a professional player. He had practically lived off Zheng Ziliang during that time. Using Zheng Ziliang’s words to describe, their relationship had reached the status of “they would do anything for each other except to fall in love or f*ck each other.”

nThe other person who tried to contact him was Qiu Yuan.

nThere were more than 300 unread messages from Qiu Yuan shown on the communication device. Lin Jie’s jaws dropped as a chill ran down his spine.

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