Chapter 65 - 65 62 Duel with a Mountain Bandit

65: Chapter 62: Duel with a Mountain Bandit 65: Chapter 62: Duel with a Mountain Bandit Xiao Jie didn’t agonize over the decision for too long before making a choice. Although the Helical Slash skill was somewhat acceptable and could be considered a semi-charge skill with decent damage, it didn’t have any significant advantages compared to One Cut, Two Pieces. The damage from three strikes was less than that from a single strike of One Cut, Two Pieces, which was quite awkward. For dealing damage, One Cut, Two Pieces would definitely be the priority. Despite its somewhat unappealing name and being only usable when knocked down, Lazy Donkey Roll as a displacement skill was definitely beneficial to have more of. At the very least, it could be used to dodge follow-up attacks after being knocked down. Xiao Jie decisively chose the Lazy Donkey Roll skill. For the other skill, he chose Black Tiger Heart-pulling. Barbaric Charge required a shield to use, and Xiao Jie was only using a shield as a temporary measure, not planning to follow the shield warrior path, so learning this skill wasn’t very meaningful. Black Tiger Heart-pulling, on the other hand, could be useful in certain situations to disrupt the enemy’s combat or break their concentration. Xiao Jie spent 2000 coins to learn both skills. Seeing his pouch instantly left with just several hundred coins, Xiao Jie sighed. The old has to go before the new can come—no matter, as long as his strength increased, he could always make the money back sooner or later. All right, first go repair the weapon, then prepare for leveling. After saying goodbye to Tie Qianli, he went to the blacksmith shop to find Wang Kai for weapon repair. “Little brother, you’ve been leveling up fiercely, hitting Level 5 so quickly. What’s the plan, heading out again soon?” “Yeah, I feel like I’ve found a bit of rhythm.” As the two were talking, suddenly a line of golden text appeared on the screen. [World Announcement: The ancient covenant has been unveiled, and the call of Old Soil is issued once again. Those exiles, from beyond the stars, the returnees, your long-lost homeland has once again opened its doors… New returnees will soon arrive!] Xiao Jie immediately perked up. “Brother Wang Kai, what does this announcement mean?” “What else could it mean? The system is releasing activation codes, looks like we’ll be seeing new faces soon.” Wang Kai explained, excitement evident on his face—seemed like more business was coming his way. Seeing Xiao Jie still somewhat confused, he elaborated further. “Every once in a while, the game issues an announcement like this. Every time there’s an announcement, the system randomly sends activation codes to people in reality. Usually, they’re sent to seasoned gamers, professional players, but sometimes they also go to completely random individuals, students, office workers, all sorts of people. I personally speculate that the system probably distributes activation codes based on the number of player deaths in the game.” Xiao Jie curiously asked, “Oh, what makes you say that?” “Logically, if codes keep on being released, the number of players in the game should be increasing, right? However, based on information from some of my old customers, it seems like the total number of players in this game is always about the same. While there’s no precise figure, generally speaking, everyone believes it doesn’t exceed ten thousand, and it might even be just three to five thousand. So it’s very possible that after a few hundred or a thousand players die in the game, the system sends out a batch of activation codes to replenish the player count.” Xiao Jie thought to himself that if this was the case, the veteran players would gradually settle down, meaning while new players constantly entered, the leading group of players might already be at high levels, eventually resulting in a polarization of the game’s player base. Of course, this game is special, as even high-level players can fail, so there wouldn’t be too many of these top players left, but there would certainly be a group of the strongest players who, if they stayed alive, would by now be very powerful. He wondered if Liu Qiang was among this group of players. Xiao Jie looked towards the small plaza at the center of the village, where he had originally logged in. But Wang Kai said, “Don’t bother looking now; it’ll be at least an hour or so before anyone shows up, and usually only a few people are assigned to a Newbie Village—here, your saber is repaired.” Xiao Jie shifted his gaze away and took the weapon. “How many Newbie Villages are there in this game?” “Not sure exactly, but there must be dozens of them.” At that moment, I Want to Be Immortal also logged in. “Feng, did you see the world announcement?” “I saw it, but don’t worry about it, we do our own thing. Hurry up and get ready, buy potions if you need potions, learn skills if you need skills.” “Feng, where are we going to level up today?” “Today, we’re going after mountain bandits.” This time, Xiao Jie planned to try taking on a mountain bandit alone to test his combat strength. If he could win relatively easily, he could consider pulling two bandits at a time to fight. That way, there would be many more bandits to fight on that hillside. No longer did we have to creep around on edge just to find a solitary target to take down easily. “Alright, I’m off to get ready.” After ten minutes, the two met up at the entrance of the village. “Haha, I just learned a new combat skill—Sweeping Strike, it’s definitely awesome. This time, I’m going to show those mountain bandits a thing or two!” I Want to Be Immortal said confidently. He was now fully equipped; since he had already reached the “heavy” load category, he decided to give up on mobility altogether. He had bought an Iron Helmet and was wearing iron scale armor and wielding a Giant Axe, looking every bit the heavily armed warrior, certainly deterring at first glance. On the other hand, Xiao Jie presented a completely different picture. With a bamboo hat on his head, leather armor on his body, long pants, and leather boots, a cape fluttering in the wind behind him, and a Yanling Saber slung at his side, he looked like a Jianghu Blade Man. Fully stocked with supplies, they left Ginkgo Village. As the saying goes, with great skill comes great courage. Both men had leveled up to Level 5, saved up a good set of equipment, and enhanced their skills, so now when facing the gloomy, desolate forest around them, they no longer felt the shudders of fear as before. Passing through the woods and over the hills, they soon caught sight of the mountain bandits. Starting from the edge, Xiao Jie said, “I’ll pull one for a one-on-one first. Don’t join in yet. If I can handle it, then you can try a one-on-one. If conditions allow, we can pull two at once.” I Want to Be Immortal said excitedly, “Okay, I’ll cover you!” Xiao Jie fired an arrow, hitting a bandit who immediately charged over. “Rou Qiu, stay back and watch my show.” Switching to a single saber, Xiao Jie went to meet his opponent. Watching the bandit swing a huge axe overhead, Xiao Jie seized the moment to attempt— Blade Reflection! Blade Reflection failed… he was off by just a fraction of a second, and Xiao Jie ended up countering empty air, instead getting hit by the bandit. -21! Fortunately, his mixed leather and cloth equipment provided some defense, so the damage from the slash was bearable. Xiao Jie didn’t panic; this scenario was something he had anticipated. Blade Reflection was a skill that probably couldn’t be mastered without dozens, if not hundreds, of training sessions. A Hawk Roll to create distance. One Cut, Two Pieces! As the bandit charged at him, Xiao Jie’s combat skill was fully charged, and he sliced at the bandit’s chest. -54! The bandit, undeterred by the pain, swung his axe down at Xiao Jie, who promptly rolled away, covering a distance of two to three meters. With his 18 points of Agility and being under a light load, his movements were incredibly light. He quickly got up and charged up another attack. One Cut, Two Pieces! It was a repeat performance. Relying on the extreme speed of his combat skills, Xiao Jie landed a high-damage hit every time the bandit rushed at him, then quickly rolled to the side. After two rounds, the bandit’s Blood Volume was nearly depleted. With a roar, the bandit turned and ran. A sneer formed in Xiao Jie’s mind—this old trick again? Without hesitation, he chased after him. The bandit ran a few steps, then suddenly bent down and pressed his sword in a charging motion, his muscles momentarily glowing crimson. But Xiao Jie didn’t flee; instead, he got up close to the bandit. Helical— Black Tiger Heart-pulling! The moment the bandit swung his sword, Xiao Jie landed a punch right in the bandit’s chest. With a muffled grunt, the bandit’s Helical Slash was broken, leaving him stunned. Actually, this move was somewhat risky, but Xiao Jie had now fully grasped the rhythm of the battle. A left chop, a right slash! With two strikes, the bandit’s Blood Volume was down to a sliver. The bandit roared and slashed again, but Xiao Jie didn’t roll away. Instead, he casually sidestepped, avoiding the bandit’s desperate last blow and, with a lateral cut, his Blade swept across the bandit’s neck, spraying a mist of blood. Stumbling forward a couple of steps, the headless corpse fell to the ground behind Xiao Jie.