Chapter 5 - 5 3 Hardcore Mode

5: Chapter 3 Hardcore Mode 5: Chapter 3 Hardcore Mode Fortunately, Han Luo had already charged behind the mountain bandits, and with all his might, he swung his stick toward the back of a bandit’s head. Crack! Perhaps because he hit a critical point, a -18 in red numbers burst out. “Way to go!” Xiao Jie shouted, moving erratically, seemingly retreating while deflecting blows, but the moment the bandit turned to deal with Han Luo, Xiao Jie suddenly stepped forward and gave the bandit a whack on the head with his stick. The bandit let out a furious roar and turned to fight back, but Xiao Jie immediately retreated, while Han Luo took the opportunity to land another blow with his stick. The two men coordinated well, and after a couple of exchanges, they had reduced the bandit’s blood volume by more than half. Seeing that he was no match, the bandit roared and turned to run away. Xiao Jie thought these game monsters were quite intelligent, even knowing when to escape, but there was no way he was going to let this one get away. The two of them chased after the bandit, swinging their sticks fiercely like beating a dog in the water. Being unequipped also had its advantages; the shirtless pair clearly ran faster than the bandit. After being hit by several sticks, the bandit saw he couldn’t escape and ground to a halt abruptly. He bent down, pressing on his sword, and made a charging motion, as muscles all over his body revealed a scarlet halo in an instant. Without thinking, Han Luo moved in to strike again. Xiao Jie, however, saw something was wrong, “Not good, retreat quickly!” At the same time, he abruptly moved back. The next second—the bandit’s figure spun, executing a Helical Slash with his broadsword. Helical Slash! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The blade spun in the air, casting out three rays of light. It was too late for Han Luo to dodge now; the three strikes chopped into him solidly, -19, -21, -27! Blood splattered everywhere. The combo had dealt Han Luo full damage, instantly depleting most of his blood volume, and what was worse, he was left in a significant stun. “Damn it!” Han Luo wanted to struggle, but the bandit moved in close, his broadsword coming down fiercely. -41 (Deadly Strike)! With a squelch, Han Luo’s decapitated head flew into the air, tracing an arc before rolling to a stop in front of Xiao Jie, his eyes wide open in death. This graphic decapitation scene made Xiao Jie’s heart tremble. Were games this violent nowadays? Looking at Han Luo’s headless corpse collapsing to the ground, Xiao Jie was also stunned. That little monster’s damage was too high, wasn’t it? Two moves and the player was finished. Could it be a boss encounter? Not likely, the creature only had just over a hundred and less than two hundred blood volume; it was definitely not a boss. It could only be said that the monsters in this game were quite ferocious, even more soul-like than the soul system itself. Fortunately, the opponent also didn’t have much blood volume left, and the action of sheathing his sword after the execution revealed a flaw. Seizing the moment, Xiao Jie leaped up, launching an aerial attack! Thump! He used his forward momentum to knock the bandit off balance. -9! Charging up—for a heavy strike! Just as the bandit regained his balance, the stick connected squarely with his head. It was a heavy strike, which caused a significant stun to the bandit, -18! Watching the bandit drop to one knee, Xiao Jie performed a sweeping strike to the head. -12! The bandit was knocked over backward, a perfect opportunity! Xiao Jie moved in for the execution. He smashed his stick down on the bandit’s head with full force, bang! -22 (Execution Attack)! The bandit’s head burst open like a watermelon. The headless body twitched twice before lying still. Seeing the mountain bandit’s corpse, Xiao Jie let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself, who designed such a perverted game? The first little monster you meet is so difficult? Luckily my skills are solid, otherwise, I would have been the first to be killed. But the sensation of landing a hit is indeed thrilling, with the club striking different body parts yielding subtly different feedback, truly sensational. Checking the loot, twenty-six coins, and a tattered book. Huh, a Skill Book dropped as well. [Hawk Roll (movement technique) Learning requirements: Agility 12. Combat Skills Introduction: A basic combat technique commonly used by people of the Jianghu, spinning the body while performing a somersault in the air, which can avoid attacks from specific directions.] Xiao Jie checked his attributes and found that he just met the requirements to learn it. He double-clicked and learned it directly. Too bad no equipment dropped. He glanced at the mountain bandit’s corpse with some scrutiny. The graphics were so realistic that every wound on the corpse was vividly displayed, with the head smashed by the club beyond recognition. Nearby, Han Luo’s corpse was equally gruesome, with internal organs spilling out from the abdomen, blood and bones at the chest, and the head lying on the ground, eyes wide open in death. He didn’t continue to pay attention to the details of the corpses, but instead focused on experimenting with the newly learned skill. Hawk Roll was a decent dodging/displacement skill, capable of flipping two to three meters at a time, much more useful than rolling, mainly because of the aerial flip effect, which was very suitable for dodging strong frontal attacks or flying projectiles. After flipping twice, he realized the skill consumed quite a bit of energy; his character began panting heavily. Well then, it seems like the energy level is a bit low. And the blood volume was down to only a dozen points or so. Xiao Jie was considering whether to continue exploring and find a monster for a ‘free trip back to the city’ to familiarize himself with the game’s resurrection mechanism when he heard Han Luo’s frustrated voice from behind. “Damn it, what’s happening!” “What’s wrong?” “Seems like you can’t resurrect in this game.” Xiao Jie looked over at Han Luo’s screen and, sure enough, the screen was blood-red with a prominent [Death]word in the middle, very eye-catching, with the option to exit the game below, and no other clickable options. Han Luo exited the game and logged in again, only to be greeted by the same blood-red death screen, still without any resurrection options. Xiao Jie was also taken aback. This game’s graphics and sense of impact were simply not of the same era as current games; it was a next-generation level game. Logically, it shouldn’t have such a low-level design flaw as players not being able to resurrect. Could it be the so-called hardcore mode? He had come across such games before where players only had one life—die once and you’d have to start over. Expert mode, hardcore mode, honor mode—different names, same rules. Players have only one life, and death means you have to delete your account and start anew. If it’s like that, then it’s no big deal. After all, it’s only Level 1, just rebuild and it’s good. “Then try rebuilding a character.” “Um, seems like I can’t rebuild a character either.” Han Luo said and logged out to the character selection screen. There was only one character slot, and it was grayed out and unselectable, without the option to delete the character. This was truly bizarre. Xiao Jie tried to help but was also at a loss. After pondering for a moment, “Don’t worry, it might just be a game bug. We can report it to the officials later, maybe there will even be a reward for inner testing. Let’s go out to eat first, and discuss the prospects of this game for making money.” Han Luo could only agree reluctantly. Being a professional player for several years, he could see the astonishing aspects of the game. It was a pity that after playing for less than an hour, he encountered such an annoying issue, which was truly speechless. But discovering a suitable game for grinding was overall a reason to be happy today. And along with that, his grudge against Liu Qiang vanished. Xiao Jie had thought about finding a monster for a free trip back to the city, but now he didn’t dare to take the risk. He obediently ran back to the village and then exited the game. As the two went downstairs, Han Luo couldn’t help but exclaim excitedly, “This game is so awesome, yet there’s not even a whisper about it in the online gaming world. It must still be in the internal testing phase. With our beta testing experience, once the game takes off, we’re sure to make a fortune. We’ll have to properly thank Liu Qiang when we get back.”