Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Runes were a mysterious object which had the power to materialize anything on earth.
For example, if one placed Ice Runes in an unmanned corner, it would turn into an iceberg after decades!
Such was the power of this mysterious magical item!
[Edgar’s Life Runes]: This is special equipment. You can store 30% of your health bar in the Life Runes. When you are in critical danger, the Life Runes will recover your health points. Cooling time is one hour. (Note: When you achieve Advanced Enchantment, you are allowed to make up the Life Runes enchantment by yourself, increasing your maximum health bar cap up to 4%.)
Like the Rebirth Talisman, Life Runes was a life-saving artifact! The difference was that the talisman was just a one-time item, but the Runes could be used indefinitely!
Lin Jie equipped himself with the Runes in the Special Equipment column, and a small blood reservoir which could hold around 500 HP appeared beside his health bar immediately. It was grayish black in color—this represented the storage of HP. When his enemy was about to kill him, 30% of his health bar would be recovered, and this would give his enemy a rough shock!
“Did that old man leave anything else?” asked Lin Jie.
“No.” Seven Ears shook his head.
Lin Jie was slightly disappointed. It would be nice if he could get Edgar’s Runes Records too. No matter what, this was good enough, in life, one couldn’t get everything they wanted. That legendary item would be reserved for certain fated people.
“This is Star Kill,” introduced Seven Ears.
Star Kill was a very young Bandit. He held a rusted Dagger (Blank) in his left hand and a rusted Kitchen Knife (Blank) in his right. His equipment was all torn and tattered, and he was only at Level 13.
Yet this was the person who exhibited the best of an Assassin Bandit, and also became one of the top 10 Bloodshed Bandits in the later stages of the game! A Bloodshed Bandit was the greatest praise a Bandit could ever get. When anyone became the hunting target of a Bloodshed Bandit, other than the indistinguishable shadow they caught sight of during the short interval of a few seconds, one could only see himself in bloodshed!
“Nice to meet you,” Lin Jie stretched out his hand.
“Hmph,” Star Kill curved up his lips, “Are you the person who forced me to try the expert-level trials for so long?!”
“Well, should be yours truly here,” Lin Jie shrugged. “Seven Ears, shouldn’t you come out and take the blame for your boss during these kinds of times?”
Seven Ears rolled his eyes and continued with his work.
Lin Jie laughed. “In any case, didn’t the expert-level trials taught you a lot? How many Combos can you do now?”
“41,” said Star Kill in a serious tone.
Bandits could apply Combo attacks much easier than Berserkers. After all, Bandits relied on Combo attacks to make a living for themselves. However, it was still a feat to be able to make a Combo of 41, even if the target was a monster.
“Not bad, but I thought you should be able to reach Combo 50,” Lin Jie said, “After reaching Combo 40, did you reach a bottleneck?”
Star Kill’s pupils constricted.
“I can help you break through the bottleneck,” commented Lin Jie. He looked like an expert as he stared straight into Star Kill’s eyes. “Do you want to become stronger?”
“No.” shrugged Star Kill.
Lin Jie blinked. “Then why do you come here?”
“To look at the boobs.” Star Kill turned and looked at Bella, who was sorting out the goods. She was wearing a cheongsam, and her curves were completely showed off. The concentrated look she wore on her face while she sorted out the goods made her look simply ravishing, and her proud boobs were like two heavy water balls, ready to explode at any time…
Sure enough… those were enticing!
Star Kill ignored Lin Jie, leaned on the counter, and put on a gentlemanly smile. “Beauty, are you willing to join me and fight together to change your destiny?”
Bella was amused. “No.”
“Oh, then I will have to change my own destiny.” Star Kill turned back and said to Lin Jie in a serious tone, “Boss, please employ me! I want to work for you at the shop.”
Lin Jie puked blood. ‘What, I worked so hard to ensure that you had no other roads, so you could only concentrate all your mind on passing the expert-level trials, just so to let you become a mere provisions shop’s employee?’
“I guarantee you, you will have a bright future ahead if you are willing to fight for me. I now officially invite you to join my tea…”
“No, I just want to sort out the goods here,” refused Star Kill.
“The future? My future is right in sight!”
Lin Jie curved up his lips into a weak smile.
Something definitely went wrong here!
Shouldn’t the correct development of events be that at the first instance Star Kill saw him, he would be impressed by Lin Jie’s mightiness, understand his good intentions immediately and then swear to become Lin Jie’s right arm? With his help, they would then conquer the world!
Bella looked at Lin Jie, turned back and looked down at the goods in front of her, and suddenly said, “I prefer a man who can give me a sense of security. Like he can watch over me and protect me from the shadows at any time, solving any dangers silently… like a suave Bandit.”
“My fate beckons me to live in the shadows.” Star Kill swung a torn black cloak around and wore it on his shoulders—it was unclear as of where he had picked up the cloak—covered his mouth, and announced in a steadfast tone, “I will join your team!”
Looking at Star Kill, a thought sprang out in Lin Jie’s mind involuntarily, ‘No matter how great people might become, they will always need to go through a couple of youthful years when they were just plain stupid.’
Bella smiled and continued to work. She was very grateful to Lin Jie, as he had given her a refuge where she could work with dignity! Being a sensitive and observant person, she of course had inferred accurately what was going on.
“Here’s a set of Silver and Gold weapons, meet me at the Floating Temple later.” After Lin Jie rummaged through the shop’s warehouse and his own inventory, he finally gathered a set of mainstream Bandit equipment and gave it to Star Kill.
After that, Lin Jie suddenly thought of Lost Camel, and he left the Provisions Shop. He teleported to Sunshine City, but before he even got out of the teleportation circle, he began to hear a conversation and recognized that one of them was Lost Camel’s voice.
“Will loser here dare to continue fighting?”
“Of course, I’ve been afraid of nothing since young!”
Two Hunters were sitting on the ground to munch on bread and recover their health bars. After their health bars were full, they took out their Longbows, strung them into a full moon, and shot their arrows!
Both of their aims were very accurate and clever, and they both escaped each other’s attacks in the blink of an eye, but Lost Camel fared slightly worse than the other player. One of his earlobes was shot by the other person’s arrow!
However, the other party was not all smiles either. Lost Camel’s pet lizard had already rushed over and bit into the other player’s ankle.
“Loser, are you up for shooting?”
“Of course, I’ve never been afraid of shooting since young!”
The two stood at their respective positions and shot arrow after arrow at each other. The damage they dealt out was almost the same, and soon both their health bars were empty. As if in tacit coordination, both of them then sat down at the same time, continued to munch on bread, preparing to fight again!
These two had been at combat for a few hours. Normally, fighting at the city gates would cause an uproar, and many nosy people would crowd around at the side to watch who finally won. However, these two had been fighting for way too long, and everyone was too irritated to watch them anymore. Both of them had low output attacks, yet were equally strong at escaping. It was like a boring show of Tai Chi where no one would die. Who would be interested in such fights?
Lin Jie observed the other person quietly and discovered to his surprise that he was also all clad in Silver. Not only that, it was a low-level Silver set, which was roughly comparable to a Level 10 ordinary Bronze set.
‘This person can also pass the expert-level trials?’
When he noticed his name, Lin Jie finally understood.
This person was the solo Hunter, who had earned the alias of ‘Hunting King’, in Lin Jie’s previous life—Unexpected Childe!
Among the Assassin Hunters, he was the best with his traps; among the Trap Hunters, his pets were the strongest; among the Pet Hunters, his arrows dealt the highest attack. As the saying goes, ‘There are three hundred and sixty trades, and every trade has it’s master’—yet Unexpected Childe championed all the different groups of Hunters!
However, Unexpected Childe’s most powerful skill was his ‘Kite-Flying’ tactics. These were essential skills for Hunters. He had once lured a Blue Dragon Prince from the Great Snow Mountain to a guild’s Guild Base as they had offended him. It had taken him 20 hours to do it, but the results were satisfying—the whole guild was burnt down by the monster!
‘How did these two get together?’ Lin Jie frowned. One was a stubborn mule, while the other one was known for his paranoiac-like temper. What good could come out from the meet-up of these two fellows?
“Loser, is your health bar full?”
“It’s full! Let’s fight again! I haven’t lost to anyone since I was young!”
The two stood up and were prepared to start fighting again.
Lin Jie hurriedly interrupted. “Camel…”
“Don’t disturb me, now wait for me to finish him off then discuss whatever you want!” said Lost Camel as he shot out an arrow! His health bar was quickly emptied, and he sat down again.
“Loser, do you still have bread?”
“No!”
“Go and buy, then we will continue to fight! I will make sure you admit defeat to me today!”
“Hah, since young I was never…”
Lin Jie took out the Wind-Fire Bow and threw it to Lost Camel, saying, “I got you the weapon you want. Hurry up and finish him off instantly.”
Unexpected Childe glared at them and shouted. “Wth, you despicable, shameless villain! I thought you were as gallant as me, but I didn’t expect you to resort to such dirty tricks!”
“I didn’t!” Lost Camel was furious.
“Wait for me to buy bread, I will come back and fight against you with my own strength! I don’t need this bow.”
“Who knows if you had applied anything to your arrows!” persisted Unexpected Childe.
“Oh dear, it was discovered,” said Lin Jie, and he turned to make an act of leaving immediately.
“Wth, you really did things to your arrows?! I have no time to play around with unscrupulous fellows like you!” It was Unexpected Childe’s turn to be furious now. Once a paranoiac got convinced to be not paranoid, they would immediately let go of their persistence. Thus, Unexpected Childe turned and left.
Lost Camel stood stunned on the spot, his fists clenched tightly.
Lin Jie came up to him awkwardly and said, “I was trying to help you.”
“No need for that! I haven’t been helped by others since I was young!” Lost Camel said angrily. It was clear that Lin Jie’s actions had upset him. After all, in the eyes of others, he was now an ‘unscrupulous fellow’.
“You’ve cleared the expert-level trials?” asked Lin Jie
“Yes! I said I can do it!”
“Then do your other words count?”
“What?”
Lin Jie smiled and said, “Join my team when you have cleared the expert-level trials. Do you dare to do it?”
Lost Camel snorted. “Of course, why should I be afraid of joining a team?”
“One can only know if the creature in front of him is a horse or a mule when he tests out its capabilities. How about this, I will provide you with the necessary equipment, but in return, you will accompany me to a Level 15 expert-level dungeon. Are you confident in doing it?” asked Lin Jie.
“Hah, of course, it’s just a Level 15 expert-level dungeon, why wouldn’t I be able to do it?” Lost Camel stretched out his hands. “Pass me the equipment, I will let you see my prowess!”
Lin Jie was delighted. Now his team had a Shield Specialist, a Warrior with a high output, a Bandit to pave the way, and a Hunter to control monsters… He was just short of a Healing job.
“Wait!” Just when the pair was about to leave, they heard a shout—it was from Unexpected Childe! He had come back suddenly, and he sneered and said, “You also equip me with the necessary equipment, I will join your team. I am definitely stronger than this guy!”
Lost Camel’s stubborn temper flared up again. “Hah, sure, let’s fight it out to see who’s stronger!”
Lin Jie waved his hands at this. “A team doesn’t need two Hunters.”
“Then what do you need?”
“I need someone who’s a Healing job.”
Unexpected Childe laughed. “You are looking at the right person. I am a Healing job!”
He laughed and opened his own Stats panel, and when Lin Jie saw what he was referring to, he nearly puked blood on the spot.
There was a prominent line in the pane: Primary Bandage, Proficiency 35/3,000!
After catching a short breather, Lin Jie tried to console himself optimistically. ‘No matter what, it seems like my team is beginning to form?’
Or was it really this case?
…
