The four guys were arrogant, sneaking around on the side to scheme among themselves while leaving Ye Xiu to do all the grunt work alone. Fortunately, they didn't treat Ye Xiu as a complete idiot either. Once they had hashed things out, the four of them swarmed over to help Ye Xiu clear mobs, explaining their extremely half-hearted behavior as they fought: "The guild had some matters to deal with just now, so we were a bit distracted. It's all good now."
"Everyone, keep it up," Ye Xiu said lightly, showing not a trace of suspicion.
The four secretly rejoiced, so for this stretch of time they actually worked together. Four veterans, plus Ye Xiu, a true expert—running a newbie dungeon like this had quite the steamrolling flair. Everyone was killing with great satisfaction, and on the surface there was no sign of the treachery brewing beneath.
"His attack power is so high. Did you notice?" Tian Qi was still whispering with Yue Zhongmian.
"Seems like it. What's that spear he's using? I've never seen it before," Yue Zhongmian said.
"No idea. I've never paid attention to low-tier battle spears," Tian Qi said.
"It'd be great if it drops when we finish this guy off later," Yue Zhongmian said.
"What use would that be? However high its attack is, it's still low-tier trash. Won't last more than a few days," Tian Qi said.
"That's true," Yue Zhongmian nodded.
The two sides didn't provoke each other and cooperated harmoniously, going in and out of the Green Forest with great efficiency. The only pity was that they never ran into the hidden boss, the Dark Night Cat Demon.
After a few waves of kills, Lord Grim was the first to reach Level 10. There was no helping it—who told him to get the Dark Night Cat Demon first kill? That came with a rather generous experience reward. The Green Forest had only that one hidden boss, and on the strength of that alone, Lord Grim was ranked quite high on the Level 10 server's level rankings. Unfortunately, though, the first character to break through Level 10 was not his. That player was Lan He, and breaking through Level 10 first was already his second appearance on the system announcement—his first had been completing the Green Forest first kill together with four others.
Seeing Lord Grim reach Level 10 one step ahead, Yue Zhongmian and the others all tensed up, afraid this guy would immediately bail and go busy himself with Level 10 matters. Who knew that Ye Xiu would just smile and say "leveled up," and then, amid a chorus of congratulations, follow the four of them back into the Green Forest.
The experience from a Dark Night Cat Demon first kill wasn't actually all that much, and by the time this dungeon run came out, Yue Zhongmian's group of four had all reached Level 10 together. All five of them had also picked up quite a bit of new equipment.
"Brother, we work well together. Now that all four of us are Level 10, how about we go try out the Spider Cave?" Tian Qi came over and said to Ye Xiu. Yue Zhongmian had prior grievances with Ye Xiu, and this sudden closeness felt odd no matter what, so Yue Zhongmian continued his unfavorable attitude toward Ye Xiu while Tian Qi, playing peacemaker, occasionally made small talk with him.
Ye Xiu greatly approved of this suggestion, only saying that he needed to go learn some skills first. Skill points didn't only come from quests; there were also level-up rewards, killing a certain number of monsters, and various challenge quests—hard-and-fast requirements like these could ultimately get you to four thousand. This time, going from Level 7 to Level 10, he hadn't accumulated many skill points, but the key thing was that Level 10 was another stage where new skills could be learned.
The other four of course needed to learn skills too, so they each went to their class mentors to learn skills before heading to the Spider Cave to regroup.
There weren't that many people at the entrance of the Spider Cave. After all, their team counted as fairly fast-leveling players, and anyone following newbie guides wouldn't consider this dungeon.
Outside the door there were only a few scattered players forming pickup groups. Since this dungeon was high in difficulty, everyone asked about each other's equipment before grouping, so team formation wasn't exactly smooth. Ye Xiu's group of five, however, was straightforward—when they arrived, without a word, they went straight in. Only this time, Yue Zhongmian's four started acting sneaky again.
"Kill him right away, or wait and see how things go?" one asked quietly.
"How about we wait and see first? This guy really is a good damage dealer. Let's make use of him for now, and set him up when we get to the boss—what do you think?" Tian Qi suggested.
"Mm." The others had no objections. Honestly, they had no grudge against Ye Xiu, and seeing him perform so outstandingly as the team's top damage dealer, they were somewhat reluctant to let him go. But out of consideration for their friend Yue Zhongmian's face, it would ultimately have to come to this. They didn't say it aloud, but they all felt a bit of regret in their hearts.
"Everyone brought antidotes, right?" Tian Qi asked once they entered the dungeon. Everyone said yes—only Ye Xiu casually smiled again and said, "Not necessary."
"This guy. Looking to die," Yue Zhongmian said, very displeased with Ye Xiu's confident tone.
"All the more convenient for us to act," Tian Qi, ever the optimist, said.
The Spider Cave was dimly lit, with tattered spiderwebs everywhere. Bones were scattered on the ground here and there, making the place look gloomy and terrifying. Yue Zhongmian and the others were all a little tense—in Glory, death cost you experience, 10% in the normal world, with a low but real chance of dropping equipment. In God's Domain, it was even scarier: death cost 20% experience, and equipment had a fairly high chance of dropping.
Meanwhile, Lord Grim, as if he were still in the Green Forest, strode ahead at the front, spear in hand. Seeing this guy volunteering to lead the way, Yue Zhongmian's four were secretly pleased.
Ye Xiu had more or less forgotten these low-level dungeons. In his memory, he seemed to have written a guide for the Spider Cave back in the day, but now he couldn't recall a single thing about it. Nearly ten years had passed, when he thought about it.
Just as Ye Xiu was sighing with emotion, a black shadow suddenly shot out from a crevice in the rocks, lunging straight at Lord Grim's face. Ye Xiu tapped the keyboard with his left hand and pulled the mouse with his right. Lord Grim rolled backward, dodging the pounce, and as he rose, delivered a Sky Strike.
What lunged at them was a melee Green Spider with poison. Struck by the Sky Strike, it flipped belly-up and was knocked into the air. Following up on airborne targets was the most basic of Glory operations—how could Ye Xiu pass it up? After a burst of dense keyboard and mouse clatter, Lord Grim leapt forward, spear raised, and unleashed a wild flurry of stabs at the Green Spider from midair down to landing. Thud thud thud thud—four consecutive stabs, every one landing true, pinning the Green Spider straight onto a rock crevice at the side.
"Holy shit, no way!" Tian Qi was shocked.
"Airborne four-chain stab!!" another cried out in surprise.
"He can pull off an airborne four-chain stab at Level 10?" said the third.
Yue Zhongmian could only stand there with his mouth agape, too stunned to speak.
The airborne four-chain stab was a Battle Mage combo that many people knew of but couldn't execute. In theory it was simple: take the normal attack thrust and Dragon Tooth, add the two consecutive stabs of Chain Strike, the Battle Mage's Level 10 skill, and land four thrusts total on an airborne target.
"I heard you need at least 170 APM to have any hope of pulling off this combo," Tian Qi said.
"Doesn't that require the attack speed bonus you get after class-advancing into Battle Mage?" another reminded him.
"But he's just an Unspecialized right now..."
"How big is the attack speed gap between Unspecialized and Battle Mage?"
"No idea. You'd have to factor in equipment too—there's no way his current gear has attack speed bonuses." Lord Grim's equipment had mostly been obtained while running dungeons with them.
"What about the weapon? Could it be his weapon?"
"Stop looking for excuses. Even if we let you class-advance into Battle Mage and deck you out in the Flowing Light set full of attack speed bonuses, could you pull off the airborne four-chain stab?"
Silence fell. If they could pull it off, they wouldn't be this shocked.
"Just who is this guy?" The three of them all turned to look at Yue Zhongmian.
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