World of Experts

“Oh! You finally came out, boy.” Seeing Shake the Heaven coming out, the three subordinates of Heroic Overlord Under Heaven immediately surrounded him, then followed him all the way to an isolated grove.

“What, do you want to PK? Are you not worried that your gears will be forcefully removed and you’ll be put in detention?” After confirming that no one’s around, Shi Hao gestured a peculiar smile to them.

“Haha! We consisted of a fighter, a knight, and an archer. With the three of us teaming up, are you sure we won’t be able to defeat you? Let’s get going, no need to speak more nonsense with him!” The three subordinates rushed towards Shi Hao.

The fighter and knight were both wearing armor, so their Defense should have become 15 and 14 respectively. But then, the two of them wouldn’t be the main attackers. They’ll simply keep Shake the Heaven at bay, because their weapons didn’t have Attack bonus. Shi Hao was also wearing armor, thus their attack won’t be able to break through his Defense, which was why it was useless for them to attack.

The archer was the true killer. An archer’s initial Attack was 5. Added up with an iron bow, the Attack would become 15. If he also used iron arrows, their Attack would reach 18. Unfortunately, the archer didn’t have iron arrows. The arrows he was about to shoot were free arrows given by the system, so there wasn’t any Attack bonus. Nevertheless, he had Attack 15 to deal with Defense 15. According to the principle of attack reinforcement, if the attacker’s attack was no less than the defender’s defense, the damage would be increased by 1. A level 1 fighter only has 5 HP. Based on this calculation, 5 times of attack should be enough to kill the annoying Shake the Heaven. There won’t be any suspense, they have calculated it precisely.

The archer showed his moves. He fired two shots in a row, the clanking sound could also be heard twice. The clanking came from Shi Hao with his 16.5 Defense resisting the two attacks which sum up to 15.

“Huh? Did that guy lose his HP? Something is fishy here.” The three subordinates were puzzled when they saw this scene.

The archer showed his moves again. He fired three more shots in a row, causing clanking sounds three times. Shi Hao fell down right where he was.

Seeing this, the three subordinates of Heroic Overlord Under Heaven finally felt relieved. As it turned out, this was the situation when the Attack and Defense were the same. At least, that was their presumptuous way of thinking.

The archer approached him, thinking about touching Shi Hao’s body to see what kind of treasure will drop. After all, this was the person he killed by himself.

“Ah!” He suddenly sensed someone’s hand reaching out to him. Shi Hao suddenly opened his eyes and stabbed him with a sword.

“What a surprise. I actually killed an archer and was able to collect an iron bow. Hehe…” Shi Hao kicked that guy’s corpse aside and deliberately stabbed his swords a few more times before the guy’s corpse completely disappeared.

In fact, only one thing dropped from the archer. The arrows given by the system won’t be able to be collected. Shi Hao said those words and did those things to provoke the remaining two guys.

The knight rushed forward angrily as he shouted, “You won’t be able to run from me! I’m faster than you.”

That was right, knights were faster than fighters. Shi Hao won’t be able to run away without killing the knight first.

With the sword in his hand, Shi Hao’s Attack has become 14.3 with the bonus. The knight’s Defense was 14. According to the calculating rules of attack reinforcement, the damage should increase by 1. Shi Hao will deal 1.3 damage to the knight with every effective attack. A level 1 knight only has 3 HP, so he’ll undoubtedly die after three blows.

Shi Hao took the armor from the knight, then ran away happily.

The remaining fighter stayed right where he was, bewildered at what he had just witnessed. “S***! What the hell is this? Could a fighter have such a high Defense and Attack? I’m also a fighter, but why can’t I be like him…”

The fighter hurriedly rushed towards Wu Batian’s hunting site.

Shi Hao wandered around the grove for some time before he finally found a knight named ‘Blowing Wind Left A Scar’. His appearance was a lot different from real life. Shi Hao couldn’t see the trace of the real Feng Tianhao in his character at all.

“S***! You actually chose to be a knight. We’ve agreed to meet in Novice Village. I’ve even been staked out, yet you’re here hunting monsters!” Shi Hao made a dissatisfaction face towards Feng Tianhao before sending out an invitation to form a team.

Feng Tianhao checked the name of the person who sent him an invite before pressing ‘Confirm’. Then, he asked in whispers, “Little Hao?”

Shi Hao didn’t say anything further. He gave him a kick first, then threw his sword at Feng Tianhao. «Kingdom» provided a safeguard for teammates, thus there won’t be any damage when teammates attack each other. Still, they would feel pain.

“Don’t just hit me out of nowhere.” Seeing this, Feng Tianhao immediately knew that this person was certainly Shi Hao. Feng Tianhao was in the wrong, so he didn’t retaliate. “I want to try out the feeling of engaging in combat. But then, I keep fighting that I lost track of time.”

Shi Hao fought with him for some while. After he got tired, he turned towards Feng Tianhao and sent a trading invitation to him. He threw the iron bow to Feng Tianhao.

“You should try to use this first. The system will automatically give you free arrows after you equipped it.” Shi Hao wiped the sweat from his face. This game was pretty realistic; the player would sweat if they got tired. They also need to replenish themself if they’re thirsty or hungry.

“Little Hao, where did you get the money to buy these items?” Feng Tianhao tested the bow and arrow’s strength and felt that it wasn’t too bad. Even though he was a knight, the professions in «Kingdom» were quite flexible. It wasn’t impossible for a knight to become an archer. After all, it was just temporary.

Shi Hao whispered what he had just experienced from beginning to end.

Shi Hao responded excitedly, “ Although it’s a bug, since you already got such a skill, we might as well establish our own force! In any case, you mustn’t let anyone know about your ability. As it happens, it’d be good to hide the bonus of this skill too. When you become the overlord, everyone would naturally become your subordinates, then you’ll be able to quietly enjoy the bonus of the skill by yourself. You need not to explain anything, either.”

“Mn! I’ve had enough with the sneering of these people.” Shi Hao replied. “It can’t be helped, I could no longer be an innocent fighter. We’re going to set up our own force. Moreover, even when I become the overlord, not only must I unveil this skill, but also have to meet Su Xiao’s brother’s requirements. We could kill two birds with one stone. However, we have to consider how to improve further in the future and break the limitation of insufficient number of skill slots and limited Energy of a fighter.”

Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao began their move. If they wanted to establish a force, they had to overcome the difficulty of coming across Wu Batian of all things. Village Building Order, they must get the Village Building Order as soon as possible.

For this reason, Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao must upgrade and improve their strength first. They formed a team and killed some monsters for a little while. Together they killed hundreds of wild hares which could revive by themselves. At long last, both of them ranked up to level 2.

Shi Hao opened his character panel.

[Name: Shake the Heaven (Fighter)] [Level: 2] [Attack: 6+10] [Defense: 10+10] [Agility: 3-1] [Vitality (HP): 10] [Energy (MP): 6] [Skill Slot 1: Soul of the Warrior (All weapons)] [Weapon: Level 1 Iron Sword] [Armor: Level 1 Iron Armor]

Feng Tianhao opened his character panel.

[Name: Blowing Wind Left A Scar (Knight)] [Level: 2] [Attack: 10+10] [Defense: 8+10] [Agility: 5-1] [Vitality (HP): 6] [Energy (MP): 6] [Skill Slot 1: Empty] [Weapon: Level 1 Iron Bow] [Armor: Level 1 Iron Armor] [Accessories: Empty]

The 1 point deduction with Agility was due to wearing armor. The armor would greatly increase the Defense, but would slow down the player’s movement speed in exchange. This also applies with weapons. Weapons with high attack would make its user slower when using it. It was just that there wasn’t a specified attack speed.

“Alright! Now that we’re already level 2, our fighting strength should have increased a lot. Let’s get to work.” Feng Tianhao dragged Shi Hao with him and returned to West Flower’s Novice Village.

Feng Tianhao went to find the village chief, then asked, “Village Chief, may we know the way to get Village Building Order?”

The old village chief carefully examined the two lads before his eyes. He shook his head as he gave them a reply, “You youngsters don’t have enough strength yet. If you want to get Village Building Order, you have to kill a beast on the western part of the village. The beast is a ferocious tiger called Red Tiger King. Its fur is red, as red as blood. You should return and temper yourselves some more. It’s not an opponent you could kill yet.”

Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao leave the old village chief. They opened the map panel and headed all the way to the west. Soon, they saw a large group of people attacking a red tiger in unison. 

As expected, the red tiger was Red Tiger King. The strength of the tiger was certainly intended for characters who have reached level 10.

Even though the game won’t let the players instantly see other people’s level from their appearance, Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao knew very well that the level of these people was certainly still not enough. They were fighting the tiger together in a group, yet they were unable to break through Red Tiger King’s defense.

However, they refuse to give up.

For one thing, it might be because the ‘employer’ Heroic Overlord Under Heaven promised them a hefty amount of copper coins. On the other hand, it might be because Heroic Overlord Under Heaven hasn’t laid out a trap. This trap was an ideal one to hunt and kill the tiger. The inside was covered with thorns, and the outside was all set to collect the treasure for Heroic Overlord Under Heaven. As long as the bait would be able to lure the tiger into the trap, Heroic Overlord Under Heaven would have enough confidence to ensnare the Red Tiger King.

“So far, the system hasn’t issued a notice that the first boss is killed. Maybe the boss’ first kill reward will become mine! It can’t be helped. Thanks to my luck, I actually drew a Level 1 Raging Flames Bomb.” Wu Batian kept watching over from the side joyfully. He didn’t really seem to care about his two subordinates who had been killed by Shake the Heaven.

Raging Flames Bomb was a kind of single use consumable with a powerful lethality. After it’s used, it will form a fire zone. For a Raging Flames Bomb, enemies in the fire zone will suffer 1 damage per second, and it lasts for 100 seconds. It ignores any kind of the enemies’ defense.

The Red Tiger King has more than 60 HP at most. So long as it’s trapped, it will certainly die.

Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao were watching over from the side, quietly laying low.

At last, after a long time had passed, the tiger was lured into the trap.

“Everyone, keep your eyes open! Success or failure hinges on this one action!” Wu Batian yelled towards the team. “After this is achieved, everyone will get rewards. I’ll never go back on my words.”

The group of ‘mercenary’ players were doing their very best on their job. The Red Tiger King was obviously just a novice boss. The system made a good character attribute to the tiger, but it didn’t give the tiger much IQ.

The Red Tiger King fell into the trap. Subsequently, the group of ‘mercenary’ players also fell down.