NOVEL WEB Chapter 9: First Failure?
“Are you alright?”
Dan Heng, who was standing nearby, asked with concern after seeing Wende’s reaction.
“Ah, don’t worry, I’m fine,” Wende replied with a smile, shaking his head.
“It’s just that I’m a bit envious...”
“Envious?”
Dan Heng raised an eyebrow.
“Of course, I envy March’s carefree demeanor.”
“Yes... indeed, a bit enviable,” Dan Heng nodded in agreement, not denying Wende’s thoughts.
“By the way, about your medical skills...”
Dan Heng looked at Wende, noticing the two lightning needles still attached to Stelle’s body.
“Oh, it’s something my master taught me.”
“My master is from the Xianzhou Alliance, he’s a highly skilled doctor. I studied under him for a while and have some understanding of its medicine.”
Wende spoke nonchalantly, though he had no such master. He had crossed over directly in his physical form and had first met the train crew.
He had no background or identity in this universe—he was a complete blank slate!
“I see.”
Dan Heng lowered his head in thought, not revealing what he was contemplating.
“By the way, when will she wake up?”
Himeko, who had appeared beside Wende at some point, asked softly, looking at Stelle behind him.
“She should wake up once she’s rested enough. Her pulse is currently very chaotic. If it weren’t for Mr. Yang’s intervention, things might be worse now.”
Wende spoke candidly, noting that without Welt’s intervention, no one knew if the stellaron would have gone haywire.
As the carrier of the stellaron, it was already a miracle that it was stabilizing within her body. Whether such stellaron disturbances would occur in the future was uncertain.
He could only say it depended on “that person’s” decision.
...........……
“Ah-choo!”
In an unknown small spacecraft, Kafka, sitting at the pilot's seat, sneezed unconsciously.
“Oh? I didn’t expect you to sneeze.”
Silver Wolf, who was chewing gum in the co-pilot seat, remarked with surprise, as if witnessing an impossible occurrence.
“Of course, I sneeze too. After all... I’m a normal person as well.”
Kafka wiped her nose and looked towards the direction of the Herta Space Station, with a somewhat meaningful expression.
“Cheh~ Always so mysterious.”
Silver Wolf, looking at Kafka’s expression, commented before focusing back on her game.
..........………
In reality
The players engaged in the main storyline finally encountered their first “boss,” the “Doomsday Beast,” a weapon controlled by the anti-matter legion.
“Wow! This BGM! This game company must have been delayed by their music career!”
Kakaya, listening to the intense battle music, marveled, feeling a fresh excitement despite having heard it several times before.
【Not an anime company???】
【Not a film company???】
【Not a breeding base???】
【This user has been muted. Please adhere to the chat guidelines.】
【LOL, why is there someone jumping into the boss during the early stages of the game?】
Ignoring the barrage of comments in the live chat, Kakaya eagerly began his official server’s first challenge!
Although he had fought this boss many times on the test server, he was still thrilled.
It wasn’t until Kakaya glanced at his battle team that he noticed something wrong.
“Huh? Where’s Wende? I had him in the team, why was he replaced by Himeko?”
Kakaya was puzzled. Hadn’t he set Wende in the team? Why was he forcibly replaced by Himeko!?
【Look, MiHoYo removed his cheat character!】
【Kakaya’s first defeat is set in stone!】
【Uh-oh! So embarrassing!】
Ever since Wende joined, Kakaya had been showing off impressive moves, such as completing the Trampler challenge without taking any damage with Wende or performing miraculous full-health recovery!
Originally, Wende starting health was already the highest, and Kakaya had stacked all early resources on Wende, which meant that apart from Wende, no other characters had a high level in the team!
Before starting the stream, Kakaya mentioned that card draws would be done after defeating the first boss to maintain the challenge, so now he had no other characters to use.
Looking at the trial character Himeko, Kakaya was on the verge of tears.
“Oh no, am I really going to face my first defeat?”
【Basic Attack】 Needle Pierce: Deals a small amount of lightning damage to a single enemy.
【Combat Skill】 Better Safe than Sorry: Instantly restores health to a single ally and attaches a layer of [Lightning Needle] to the ally, lasting three turns. The ally with the attached [Lightning Needle] receives additional healing.
【Ultimate Skill】 Substance Replenishment: Instantly restores a large amount of health to a designated ally and removes negative effects from the designated ally.
【Talent】 Arrive, Heal, Leave: When the health of the healed ally is full, it enhances the ally’s attack power by 20% of Wind’s attack power.
【Technique】 Decider of Life and Death: Instantly heals all allies. If all allies' health is full, increases critical hit rate by 20% for two turns.
【Additional Ability (Ascension 2)】: Acupuncture: Adds extra attack power to the healed unit.
【Additional Ability (Ascension 4)】: Meridian Points: Healing effects can critically hit.
【Additional Ability (Ascension 6)】: Five Shu Acupoints: Increases Wind’s critical hit rate by 20%.
【Eidolon 1】: Wind: When releasing skill, restore 50% of the total healing amount to adjacent units around the target unit.
【Eidolon 2】: Cold: When using ultimate skill, gain 2 extra skill points.
【Eidolon 3】: Summer: Increases skill level by 2, up to a maximum of level 15; Increases basic attack level by 1, up to a maximum of level 10.
【Eidolon 4】: Wet: When HP falls below 10% for the first time, restores 30% of HP to all friendly units.
【Eidolon 5】: Dry: Increases ultimate level by 2, up to a maximum of level 15; Increases talent level by 2, up to a maximum of level 15.
【Eidolon 6】: Fire: Overflowing healing is converted into a corresponding shield value.
Kakaya looked back at Wende’s abilities and lamented that he was removed from the party
【This is what happens when you put your eggs in one basket!】
【Wow! The real challenge is here!】
Some viewers were gloating, while others were panicking.
【Wende! Wende! How can I live without you! What will I do without your healing, Wende! Take me with you!!!】
【My Wende! My beloved! It hurts! It hurts more than Kakaya’s first defeat!】
Some viewers were suggesting solutions.
【Increase the difficulty for Kakaya! My secondary team also cleared it without leveling up, and it was a breeze!】
【Damn! Kakaya! Give everyone a challenge!】
“.......Thanks for your help.”
Kakaya, feeling somewhat speechless, looked at the various comments in the live chat.
As a content creator on AC station, he realized that this was a great opportunity for humor. Seeing the increasing number of viewers in the live chat, Kakaya smiled and took out his phone.
【Huh? Why did Kakaya quit the battle?】
【Is he trying to put Wende back in the team? No, the official locked the team!】
【By the way, why are there so many flashy moves after the public test? It wasn't like this during the test.】
【Because my husband came out~】
【What husband? That’s my man!】
【Damn! Bastards!】
【Wait, everyone stop arguing. Why is Kakaya opening the shop? Is he going to spend money on pulls?】
【Look! A famous content creator is breaking his promise about being free-to-play after losing in the space station mainline!】
“Don’t worry, I’m not buying pulls!”
Kakaya said with a smile to the live chat.
He quickly completed a payment and, to everyone’s astonishment...
Purchased the assistance package from the shop...
【Damn! A rich person!】
【Rich people doing this kind of scam!】
【As expected of you, such a unique thought process, truly impressive!】
Kakaya, smiling broadly, leveled up the characters in the team to the highest level achievable at this stage and restarted the battle against the Doomsday Beast.
【Wende was abandoned!】
【F**k! Refund it!】
【Did the newcomers just come to this? This is the sucker who buys character experience materials?】
【No, you’re in the wrong place. This is KFC.】
With “superior” tactics, Kakaya successfully passed the first stage of the Doomsday Beast. Just as he was preparing for the second stage, a sudden CG animation left him stunned.
“Huh? Why is there a CG animation here!”
Kakaya was confused.
The CG animation showed the exploration team dividing tasks clearly, drawing the Doomsday Beast’s attacks while covering each other in a well-coordinated manner.
“Not good! March! Wende! Get ready to defend!”
In the CG, the Doomsday Beast began to accumulate power, and Himeko shouted to March 7th and Wende.
March 7th raised her small hand, covering everyone with a shield, while Wende’s healing lightning needles followed closely.
After the CG ended, Kakaya was dumbfounded. He found that the characters in the team had received two layers of buffs—one from March 7th’s shield and one from Wende’s healing.