Ceng Jing Shu Guang did not run. The very instant his front hooves touched the ground, Xiao Yu pressed the A, S, and D keys simultaneously with the three fingers of his left hand, and then, with a gentle flick of his right hand, clicked the left mouse button. Ceng Jing Shu Guang crouched slightly on the screen, his longsword swept upward into the void, and his entire body actually leaped into the air!
This jump was executed purely through manual operation. The height of the jump was only a few centimeters off the ground, almost imperceptible without close inspection. In ordinary circumstances, this kind of jump was a completely useless maneuver, but today it worked!
It was precisely because of this gap of a few centimeters that Ceng Jing Shu Guang was airborne. When he landed back on the ground, he had just managed to evade the resulting shockwave!
It could only deal damage to targets on the ground and was completely ineffective against airborne targets—even by a single millimeter!
"Come back, attack!" Xiao Yu shouted.
Dou Ni Wan was the first to run back onto the screen. Looking around, he saw that only a few dozen people were left standing nearby. Over half of those dozen were frozen in place, motionless, having been afflicted with the stun status, while others were kneeling on the ground, looking severely injured. The only exception was a fellow standing right by the pig's rear end, holding a longsword and repeatedly stabbing furiously at the pig's backside. Looking at the ID floating above this guy's head: Ceng Jing Shu Guang!
"Holy shit, Captain, how did you run back so fast?" Dou Ni Wan shouted in astonishment.
"I didn't run."
"Why?"
"Don't like running."
"…Don't like running?"
Dou Ni Wan almost choked to death on a breath of air. Why was this guy so obnoxious when he spoke? What did "don't like running" even mean? That was a boss! If you didn't run, you'd die!
In the party chat, Xiao Yueya also sent a message: "In this day and age, the ones who deserve to die don't die, and the ones who don't deserve to die are all dead..."
"Who is Xiao Yueya cursing? Is she talking about us?" Piao Lai Piao Qu asked.
"Don't fight over it, she's cursing me," Ceng Jing Shu Guang said calmly. "Accelerate your output, grab the aggro first!"
"Alright!"
Seeing that the previously dense crowd of players had been thinned out into a sparse few by a single stomp, while their own party of six remained completely unscathed, they really had Ceng Jing Shu Guang to thank for all of this. Therefore, the six of them stopped talking nonsense, obeyed commands, and poured everything into their damage output.
Barely twenty seconds later, Ceng Jing Shu Guang spoke again: "Aggro has been pulled over. It's on me."
"What? So fast? That's great!" Dou Ni Wan was overjoyed.
This wasn't really pulling aggro through skill; it was clearly just picking up the leftovers! Everyone else had kicked the bucket, so naturally, the aggro fell onto Ceng Jing Shu Guang's party, didn't it?
The gloomy voice channel instantly became lively. The players chattered back and forth like frogs leaping out of a muddy pond, croaking away. Except for Xiao Yueya, who still remained silent and only typed four words in the party chat—"Petty success goes to their heads"—the other formerly unfamiliar teammates suddenly seemed like long-lost friends of many years.
"I'll lead the monster away, you guys pause your attacks! Keep up!"
"Why run? Can't we fight it here?"
"We can, but I'm afraid of it getting sniped. The six of us can't beat those big guilds."
As they spoke, Ceng Jing Shu Guang had already started running!
Following closely right behind Ceng Jing Shu Guang, its nose nearly half a meter long, the Pig King shoved forward, aiming straight for his backside.
"Captain, watch out! The Pig King's trying to violate your chrysanthemum!" Dou Ni Wan yelled at the top of his lungs.
Level 10 attacks were absolutely fatal to Level 5 players. Over the past twenty-odd minutes, no fewer than several hundred players had been shoved to death by its nose. It was just that the attack frequency wasn't high, and coupled with the fact that it was a single-target attack and there were many players around, you couldn't really tell when a dozen or twenty people died every minute.
There were simply too many players in the small fishing village. They had barely been led a few hundred meters away when hundreds of people swarmed up behind the monster. Waving the knives and swords in their hands, shouting at the top of their lungs, they hacked away at the target no matter what.
Suddenly, Ceng Jing Shu Guang, who was running in front, came to a halt. Waving his right hand, he struck the Pig King's nose with a single sword slash.
"Captain has a death wish! Watch out for the one-hit kill!" Dou Ni Wan was startled. Wasn't this pure suicide?
He had seen with his own eyes many players above Level 5 getting sent straight back to the safe zone in a single strike. Judging from the weapon in Ceng Jing Shu Guang's hand, this guy hadn't even learned any skills and was at most Level 4. Now that the aggro was on him, if he took a poke from that pig, how could he possibly survive?
Ebony King Cauldron descends to the mortal realm.
A long string of characters in the party chat appeared before the eyes of the three: "[Pig King] will have a [Trample] effect upon death, with a three-meter radius. Only the area around the pig's backside is the safest, but unfortunately..."
Upon seeing the word "unfortunately," Dou Ni Wan and Taiyi Zhenren both understood, but it was already too late. These two kids, along with six or seven other players, were squashed to death right then and there by the Pig King's fat, bloated body!
[Pig King] death effect [Trample]: Inflicts negative effects such as [Suffocation], [Broken Bones], and [Internal Organ Rupture] on targets within a three-meter radius, while simultaneously dealing 500 points of fixed damage!
Ding!
System prompt: Congratulations to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang] for leveling up to Level 5!
Ding!
System prompt: Congratulations to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang] for leveling up to Level 6!
Ding!
System prompt: Congratulations to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang] for leveling up to Level 7!
Ding!
System prompt: Congratulations to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang] for leveling up to Level 8!
With the death of the [Pig King], Ceng Jing Shu Guang actually leaped up several levels in a row, jumping straight from Level 4 to Level 8. Meanwhile, white light flashed repeatedly over Xiao Yueya's body as well, jumping 3 levels to become Level 7, and her experience bar also surged to ninety percent of Level 7.
Before the sound of the system prompts had even finished fading, a loud crash echoed out, and a glittering pile of objects appeared on the ground in all sorts of colors. Xiao Yueya knew these were the items dropped by the [Pig King], but before she could figure out what was happening, a golden light flashed before her eyes, and another string of oversized golden system announcements appeared!
Ding!
[Server Announcement]: Congratulations to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang] along with teammates [Xiao Yueya], [Dou Ni Wan], [Taiyi Zhenren], [She Si Ni], and [Piao Lai Piao Qu] for completing the first hunt of the beginner village boss [Pig King]. These six heroes will be rewarded by the system with one [Pig King First Kill Pack], and at the same time, the names of these six individuals will be permanently carved upon the [Monument of Prominent Figures]!
Xiao Yueya was dumbfounded. She had actually made it onto the broadcast! She had received a server-wide announcement! She was famous!
She leaped for joy, her heart blooming with happiness. Turning her head to look at Ceng Jing Shu Guang, she eagerly wanted to express her joy to him, but upon looking, she froze. Her small hands hovered over the keyboard for a long time, unable to type out a single word.
Finally, a thoroughly exasperated Xiao Yueya spoke up: "You beast, leave some of the stuff on the ground for your lady here!"
Xiao Yueya's voice was crisp and melodious, sweet and charming like an oriole or a lark.
Ceng Jing Shu Guang was lowering his head, frantically raking items into his bag. The moment the [Pig King] died, his gaze had swept the ground, and a wave of wild joy couldn't help but well up in his heart.
"Even this thing dropped? Heavens treat me well!"
Thinking this, Ceng Jing Shu Guang didn't stop his feet. With a forward dash, he stepped directly on top of the item, bent his body, and with a soft 'clack,' the object on the ground vanished.
The [Pig King] was truly generous. There were over a dozen pieces of equipment emitting various colored radiances on the ground. Without checking the names in detail, he gathered them first. Ceng Jing Shu Guang's figure flashed repeatedly with a series of whooshing sounds, and the items on the ground were cleaned out in no time. By then, Xiao Yueya's voice had reached him once more.
Hearing that voice, he paused in a daze, a flash of astonishment crossing his eyes. He hadn't expected this chick's voice to be so pleasant. He kicked the last few remaining copper coins on the ground with his foot.
"This money... do you want it?"
Duh! Who doesn't want money?
A copper coin flew up, landing squarely into Xiao Yueya's slightly open collar, and then slipped right down inside...
"Shameless!"
Xiao Yueya was thoroughly shocked. The copper coin had actually flown inside her clothes, lodging itself right between her two plump mounds.
"I didn't mean to, little sister."
A rare trace of apology appeared on Ceng Jing Shu Guang's face.
"Hmph! Detestable!" Xiao Yueya turned her head away in anger, her little face flushed red, and she refused to speak another word.
Ceng Jing Shu Guang also felt somewhat awkward. Just as he wanted to say something, East Sea Dragon King walked over from the side.
🌿
"Brother, congratulations, congratulations. Can you sell me the [Flying Cloud Sword] that just dropped?"
This buddy had a sharp eye; with so many items on the ground, he had actually spotted the [Flying Cloud Sword] at a glance.
"Hehe, sharp eyes. However, the items belong to everyone; whether I can sell it or not isn't up to me to decide. Let me ask around first, haha."
Right at that moment, Dou Ni Wan and the others sent friend requests. Xiao Yu clicked accept and pulled them all into the party one by one.
Dou Ni Wan: "Boss, what dropped?"
Taiyi Zhenren: "I died at the very last moment, such terrible luck. Sigh, I didn't get any share of the EXP, what a pity."
Piao Lai Piao Qu: "Is there anything I can use? Captain, I can buy it with cash too."
She Si Ni: "Captain, can you spare me anything you don't need? I'm very poor..."
Xiao Yueya spoke up as well: "The items were fought together by all of us, we need to split them evenly!"
"Oh, the beauty finally spoke, her voice sounds so nice," Dou Ni Wan exclaimed in surprise.
Taiyi Zhenren remained quite calm: "We don't know each other well. According to the rules, whoever grabs the items gets them; we don't have the right to demand an even split."
"That's right, besides, we wouldn't have made it on the broadcast without the Captain. This is the highest honor, I'm famous now! Hehe," She Si Ni chimed in as well.
"And there's the system reward package too. There's bound to be plenty of good stuff inside!" Piao Lai Piao Qu said.
Dou Ni Wan also raised his voice: "Right, whoever snatches them keeps them. Captain Boss, I don't want the items, but can I just take a look? Just to satisfy my eyes..."
Xiao Yueya was extremely depressed. Whoever snatches them keeps them? Doesn't that mean she would only get a single copper coin? And that was even kicked into her clothes by the guy himself! If she'd known, she should have grabbed the loot first.
"Cut the chat. Killing the [Pig King] was everyone's contribution, items will be split evenly." Ceng Jing Shu Guang's voice finally rang out.
"Split evenly?"
"Really? Captain?"
"Boss, you rock!"
"Thanks a lot!"
Everyone was excited. They knew very well that according to the rules, even if Ceng Jing Shu Guang gave them nothing, they couldn't find fault with it since all the credit belonged to him anyway, and who told them to kick the bucket at the end?
"That's more like a man," Xiao Yueya muttered to herself.
"Back to the village, gather at the village chief's place!"
After shouting that command, Ceng Jing Shu Guang sent another message to East Sea Dragon King nearby: "Sorry, we're heading back to divide the loot. I'll contact you if there's anything left over. You go play first..."
"…Fine." East Sea Dragon King frowned, wanting to say something, but ultimately held it in.
Soon, the six of them gathered around the village chief.
Ceng Jing Shu Guang opened his package and found it packed to the brim, especially the money inside—there were actually fifteen gold coins!
The in-game currency in God Tribulation was divided into three types: gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. The exchange rate was one gold coin for 100 silver coins, and one silver coin for 100 copper coins. Since the game had just launched its servers, everyone was strapped for cash, and a single gold coin could easily sell for at least a hundred bucks.
"Fifteen gold coins, two and a half each. Equipment will be divided by class; if it doesn't match your class, we sell it and split the cash evenly. Sound good?"
"No need to split the money, just giving me a piece of equipment is enough!"
"Right, we don't want the money!"
"Yeah, give me something if I can use it, otherwise forget it, keep the money!"
Xiao Yu didn't press the matter further. According to their classes, he distributed the items from his bag. Their luck was genuinely good; everyone was allocated a piece of equipment, including green gear and blue gear. Among all of them, Dou Ni Wan received the most items, and even scored a piece of red gear.
Equipment in God Tribulation was divided into ten tiers, from lowest to highest: White Gear, Green Gear, Blue Gear, Red Gear, Gold Gear, Dark Gold Gear, Purple Gold Gear, Black Gold Gear, Platinum Gear, and the ultimate Artifacts.
Finally, it was Xiao Yueya's turn. The class this chick played was the Buddhist Holy Hand Doctor, a healing class belonging to the doctor archetype—commonly known as a milkmaid. The weapon she used was a sword.
Xiao Yu organized his package, handing the [Flying Cloud Sword] along with several other blue-tier doctor gear items directly to Xiao Yueya, and then stuffed five gold coins into her pocket as well.
"Little sister, save that to buy candy," Ceng Jing Shu Guang said softly.
"…Thank you, big brother." Xiao Yueya's heart was filled with gratitude, and upon seeing the money, her voice turned as gentle as flowing water.
Happily, the chick hurriedly opened her package to change her gear, but when she saw the stats of the [Flying Cloud Sword], she received a massive shock, her small mouth agape in an O-shape, forgetting to close it.
This sword was actually a piece of gold gear!
[Flying Cloud Sword] (Gold Gear)
Level: 5
Class: Internal Attack Class.
External Attack: 30-75
Internal Attack: 75-150
Weight: 8
Durability: 90/90
Bonus Stats:
Internal Attack: +10
Accuracy: +6
Attack: +1
Casting Speed: +2%
"My goodness, this—this is gold gear?!"
"Yeah, make do with it," Ceng Jing Shu Guang said indifferently.
Gold gear? What kind of concept was that? Even though it was only Level 5, its attack power was enough to rival Level 25 white gear, coupled with those additional stats—especially attack speed and casting speed. Having even just one of those made it top-tier! If he took this to the marketplace to sell, it would fetch an astronomical price!
Currently, throughout the entire game, the number of people who possessed red gear definitely did not exceed ten. After all, with the game just launching, everyone was wearing starter gear, and ordinary mob monsters dropping a green piece of gear was already quite an achievement. Yet she had actually obtained a piece of gold gear. How did this detestable Ceng Jing Shu Guang look cuter the more she looked at him?
Once the items were distributed, Xiao Yu reopened his package, locking his gaze onto a pitch-black object that looked like an alchemy furnace.
"[Ebony King Cauldron], it actually dropped the [Ebony King Cauldron] for me!" Xiao Yu stared at the name of this furnace, and his heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate.
[Ebony King Cauldron] (Upgradable)
Level: 1
Class: Unlimited
Weight: 5
Bonus Effect: Capable of refining poisons, medicines, elixirs, and gu insects. Provides additional amplification effects for class skills such as Vampire King, Necromancer, and Witchcraft Poison Master.
Innate Skill: [Thousand-Jun Cauldron]. Usable at Level 20. Summons the King Cauldron, sacrificing 5% of its own durability to launch a fatal strike against a single target, instantly draining 50% of their health pool, with a 100% chance to inflict a [Stun] effect. Skill cooldown is 1 hour!
Item Description: The founding treasure of the Wuling Sect, originally a relic left behind by the East Continent God King [Powder-Faced Gentleman]. It naturally emits a peculiar fragrance; when ignited, it can lure gu insects within a five-mile radius to gather and breed inside the cauldron. Back then, to cultivate gu and refine poisons, the [Powder-Faced Gentleman] ventured deep into the bitter cold regions, chopped down ebony wood, and forged the King Cauldron, taking three full years to finally succeed. In the Dao of poison refining, the cauldron comes first; without a cauldron to act as a furnace, it is ultimately hard to conquer the heavens.
As the designer of the Witchcraft Poison Master, Xiao Yu was extremely familiar with this class. All skills related to poison masters were designed by his own hands, and the cauldrons required for poison refining also entirely came from his pen, yet he never expected that the very first boss he killed upon entering the game would drop the [Ebony King Cauldron] for him!
In God Tribulation, apart from some pre-designed weapons and equipment for each class, there were also mysterious items that appeared at random. The stats and effects of these items could not be controlled even by the game designers, being entirely randomized by the system.
Xiao Yu had designed five styles of cauldrons for the Wuling Sect, but this [Ebony King Cauldron] was not among those five!
"Across the entire server, when it comes to the rarity of equipment, I'm afraid nothing can rival this [Ebony King Cauldron] of mine," Xiao Yu thought to himself, staring at the words 'Upgradable' and 'Thousand-Jun Cauldron' following the [Ebony King Cauldron].
Just at that moment, the system announcement appeared once more.
Ding!
[Server Announcement]: Congratulations to [East Sea Kings] along with teammates [East Sea Shrimp Soldier], [East Sea Crab General], [East Sea Dragon Girl], [East Sea Mermaid], and [East Sea Third Prince] for completing the first kill of the beginner village boss [Rabbit King]. These six heroes will be rewarded by the system with one [Rabbit King First Kill Pack]!
Seeing the prompt, Xiao Yu remembered the [Pig King First Kill Pack] in his possession, and hurriedly shifted his gaze toward it.
[Pig King First Kill Pack]
Level: 1
Class: Unlimited
Unlocking Level: 10
Weight: 2
Item Description: A relic left behind when the [Pig King] found release. As the king of pigs, the pressure it bore was beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortal pigs. Seeking death, it gathered all its wealth within this, bestowing it upon the wielder of the blade in gratitude for the mercy of a ruthless end!
"Why is it unlocking at level ten again? Couldn't those brats have set it to level five back then? If you don't play the game from a player's perspective, you'll never understand a player's pain."
Xiao Yu remembered those fellows from the design team and couldn't help cursing them in his heart.
Checking his package once more, Xiao Yu suddenly felt rather pathetic, because among the remaining equipment, aside from a pair of Level 5 green [Poison-Resistant Boots], there wasn't a single piece he could actually use. Still, the stats on these boots were quite decent.
[Poison-Resistant Boots] (Green Gear)
Level: 5
Class: Unlimited.
External Defense: 4
Internal Defense: 4
Weight: 2
Durability: 90/90
Bonus Stats:
Dodge: +2
...
Putting on the boots, Xiao Yu opened his attribute panel for a look—
ID: [Ceng Jing Shu Guang]
Level: 8
Class: Witchcraft Poison Master (East Continent, Tier 1)
Health: 240/240
Internal Energy: 225/225
Stamina: 100/100
External Attack: 16-31
Internal Attack: 16-45
External Defense: 12
Internal Defense: 19
Dodge: 10
Accuracy: 15
Critical: 1.7
Attack Speed: 1
...
Senior Sister Teaches Blood Cauldron Divine Skill
"Not bad, not bad. My defense is finally out of the single digits."
Xiao Yu closed the attribute panel and walked over to the village chief.
"Old man, your hides!"
With that, he tossed five pig hides straight into the village chief's arms. To his surprise, the old man stood there foolishly without even catching them, letting all five hides drop right to the ground.
"Pig, pig, pig..." The village chief pointed a finger at Ceng Jing Shu Guang, repeatedly muttering a single word in his mouth.
"Damn it, you're the pig!"
"The—the Pig King, you killed it?" The village chief sputtered for ages before finally finishing his sentence.
"Yeah, what? Do you really have to make such a big fuss about it?"