Chapter Seven: An Incredibly Potent Gift
In the past, it was common to wait until the end of the month for the teachers to enter the field, with students following behind to wave flags and cheer, playing supporting roles and ganging up on some minor bosses at the edges. No one had ever been bold enough to directly enter Brad Town and alter the storyline as they had this time.
Naturally, Chu Cheng had no intention of joining in the excitement. Even though he had awakened a talent and acquired two very powerful class specialties, it didn’t mean he could do as he pleased inside the instance. His spatial refraction talent made him invincible against minor enemies, but bosses were a different story—their attacks were too strong.
His plan was to first familiarize himself with his abilities and understand his current strength before deciding whether to get involved.
“Target: Black Sail Pirates!”
Retracing his old path, he decided to visit the northern area where he used to level up. Passing by the docks near the town once more, the group of anglers was still there. They noticed Chu Cheng, and one classmate, Du Wenjie, called out:
“Chu Cheng, you’re level ten now?”
“Yes.”
“Congratulations!”
“Hahaha.”
He touched his head, waved, and walked away from the dock. There wasn’t much to say; he hadn’t been close with them before.
Even so, it was clear that there was a distinct difference between those below level ten and those above.
Five minutes later, Chu Cheng left the town and arrived once again at the familiar beach where he often trained. In the distance, he saw several Black Sail Pirates wandering by the sea. Excitement and nervousness stirred inside him—not out of fear, but sheer anticipation.
He took three deep breaths to calm himself, then with a metallic sound drew both his blades and strode toward the two Black Sail Pirates.
“Let you be the first sacrifices for my takeoff!”
His purposeful steps quickly alarmed the two pirates, who were chatting idly. They swiftly drew their flintlock pistols and aimed at him.
Bang! Bang!
Two crisp gunshots echoed along the shore. A faint crystalline gleam flashed over Chu Cheng’s body, and two ripples of spatial distortion erupted from him, sweeping across the pirates over ten meters away. In an instant, two splashes of -30 damage blossomed, and the pirates, who had only half drawn their curved blades, toppled backward.
“That’s it?”
They fell before he even got close, the speed leaving Chu Cheng momentarily stunned.
“Show combat data playback.”
A light screen appeared, displaying a series of data before him.
“Based on your perception, you receive the following detailed combat statistics.”
“Combat playback commencing.”
“You were shot by a Black Sail Pirate’s flintlock, receiving 30 points of physical damage. Your talent, Spatial Refraction, absorbed 30 points of physical damage, and you ultimately took 0 damage.”
“Your talent, Spatial Refraction, activated, reflecting 30 points of pure damage back at the Black Sail Pirate.”
“Your talent, Spatial Refraction, activated, reflecting 30 points of pure damage back at the Black Sail Pirate.”
“The damage you dealt exceeded the target’s remaining health. The target is dead!”
“You gained 3 kill experience points.”
“Too powerful!”
Spatial Refraction absorbed 30 points of damage and reflected 30 points of pure damage—pure damage ignored defense and resistance. A level 5 Black Sail Pirate only had 55 HP; two shots meant 60 points of pure, defense-ignoring damage, slicing them in half with two invisible spatial blades.
After reviewing the data, Chu Cheng no longer had any doubts or apprehension.
He looked up at the pirate silhouettes on the beach, excitement rising in his chest.
“You little brats, your grandpa is here!”
Laughing wildly, he charged straight at the pirates, deliberately drawing them in.
This talent was a true mass farming divine skill—level 5 pirates couldn’t even pierce his defense, so there was nothing to fear.
In just twenty minutes, he had charged deeper into the area than ever before, leaving a trail of corpses behind him. And he himself was completely unscathed, not even a scratch.
It felt amazing, but unfortunately the experience gained was too little. At level nine, he had gained 12 kill experience points; now it was down to just 3, a sharp drop.
“I need to take on higher-level monsters.”
Chu Cheng looked up. Ahead was the area where level 8–9 Black Sail Pirates roamed. Beyond that lay Brad Town.
“I’ll farm here a bit longer, then go see what’s happening in Brad Town.”
With this decision made, he strode forward with determination.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of crisp gunshots startled the birds in the forest and lifted the morning mist.
After the gunfire faded and the birds returned to their nests, seven or eight Black Sail Pirate corpses were sprawled beneath the trees.
“Still no real threat.”
Black Sail Pirate Sailor (Trash): Level 8, 105 HP.
Their basic attacks couldn’t break his defense, and their flintlocks dealt 35 damage—only 5 more than the absorption value of his talent, and after factoring in his defense, only 4 damage actually got through. Compared to his current 730 HP and 6 HP per second regeneration, it was negligible.
Level 8 Black Sail Pirates gave 8 kill experience each, but it still wasn’t much. Level 10 was a huge threshold—killing monsters below level 10 gave drastically reduced experience, even level 9s were halved.
It was pure, effortless slaughter all the way. At some point, distant cannon fire rumbled through the air, suddenly making Chu Cheng realize he was nearing Brad Town.
He picked up his pace, and as he passed through a dense patch of forest, the sound of flintlocks firing and chaotic shouts erupted ahead.
“Hold the line! Don’t panic!”
“Child, run! You must survive!”
“Father…”
Chu Cheng rushed forward, circling a tangle of vines, and saw, in a clearing, a group of militiamen defending a crowd of refugees against a horde of Black Sail Pirates.
He immediately noticed the difference in these pirates—their expressions and eyes were more vivid, more lifelike than the monsters he’d been mowing down, and their levels were higher—all above level 10.
He quickly used his universal skill, Insight:
Black Sail Pirate (Normal): Level 10, 220 HP.
“So these are proper pirates.”
The difference was in the template—trash monsters were experience fodder, conjured by the dungeon master through the dungeon core, with low stats and intelligence, only for students to level up. Normal and above templates were proper dungeon creatures, with intelligence and behavior on par with real people.
Above them were elites, horrors, lords, and so on, only differing in strength and status; their intelligence was roughly the same.
Clearly, Brad Town had already fallen, or refugees wouldn’t be appearing.
Chu Cheng surveyed the scene. Though the militiamen were, on average, higher level than the pirates, they were too few in number to win.
His mind worked swiftly and he made a decision.
He leaped out from his hiding spot and shouted loudly:
“I’m an adventurer from Seaside Town—I believe you could use my help right now!”
Both sides in the melee looked over. When the militia squad leader, Hans, saw he was alone, disappointment flashed across his face, but he still said:
“Adventurer, we need you to escort these civilians south to Seaside Town.”
Across from them, the pirate leader laughed heartily.
“Another one come to die! Boys, kill this foolish adventurer!”