Chapter 144:

“Encircle them, encircle! Clear out the surroundings! Black Stockings, Day One No Fap, Don’t Need Hands to Show Off, you three keep watch at the perimeter, don’t let any Astral Realm beasts escape and scare our esteemed little boss. Three to Five Pecks, be ready to provide assistance at any moment. Old Tune, go pull the aggro.” Inside the inner city ruins district of Kadman City, above the Blood Vulture Halls, Meow King was assigning tasks while casting a Thorn Spells on Feel You Poor, who was gripping a newbie sword and looking around nervously. The others followed his commands, while Meow King turned to the bewildered little boss and said, “This game doesn’t allow leeching experience. You have to grind levels yourself by hacking away. I just showed you the newbie sword skills. I’ll teach you Spirit Blast later. But the key point is, don’t panic when you encounter monsters, just take a stance and slash at them. The basic sword skills repeat themselves, the more you slash, the more familiar you’ll become. Once you’re proficient, you can adjust your stance to the standard form, no rush. My brothers and I will protect you, so you won’t be in any real danger. As we agreed earlier, we’ll escort you until level 5, aiming to complete that in two days.” “Hey hey hey, I may not play many games, but I know ‘power leveling’ isn’t done this way.” After listening in bewilderment, the little boss immediately objected to Meow King, “Other games’ power leveling services take care of both leveling and gearing up! Why do I still have to kill monsters myself?” “My brother, that’s for other games. Look where you are now, look at these graphics, these pixel details, the aesthetic design of these ruins, and the physical feel. Do you think it can be the same? And as I’ve said, rich little brother, we’re not some low-end power leveling workshop,” Meow King rolled his eyes. He was regretting it deeply in his heart, wishing he could slap himself twice for drinking that extra bottle of wine when having dinner with the student gang and Sister Pomegranate that night. As a result of boasting drunkenly to that group of students who could drink even more than him, a social worker, he had carelessly promised the little tagalong boss to level him up. When he woke up the next morning, he found the down payment had already been wired to his card. It was too late for regrets now. Though they had previously decided to shift their “style” a bit, so using the little rich boss for some practice wasn’t a bad idea. “Monsters incoming!” The gunner Old Tune quickly pulled aggro. In this relatively safe area, he swiftly charged over, performing a stylish gunner’s sliding tackle to reach Meow King’s side. The two retreated a step in unison. Meow King even made an encouraging gesture towards the dazed little boss. A manifestation of despair emerged before them. It had no physical form, just a swirling black mist constantly changing shape. Sensing Feel You Poor’s anxiety and fear ahead, it eagerly transformed into a black wolf and pounced towards him. In other games, a mere wolf would be easy, just a few skills and it’s down. But this demonic thing felt too real. As the embodiment of despair leapt to attack, Feel You Poor’s pupils seemed to dilate, he could clearly feel this wolf pup lunging straight for his throat. Even though Meow King had provided him a newbie’s sword, all he had to do was raise it to slash. But he was petrified with fear. He could only watch helplessly as the wretched thing clawed towards him, his legs trembling, rooted to the spot. “Bang!” At the last moment, Old Tune coolly drew his sidearm spirit hunter’s revolver and fired a precise shot, dispersing the embodiment of despair into billowing black smoke in front of the little boss. Only a faint, mournful wail lingered and dissipated before him. “This won’t do.” Old Tune lowered his smoke-trailing witch hunter’s revolver and said to Meow King, who was covering his eyes and ears, “Our ‘boss’ here hasn’t played any monster-grinding leveling games before, has he? His mental fortitude is way too low.” “Your mental fortitude was great too, don’t you remember almost peeing your pants when the Witch Hunters came at you in Morland Village?” Don’t Need Hands to Show Off snickered as he butted in, “I may not have seen it, but I keep hearing Day One No Fap and Led More Than Three to Five Pecks going on about how you got slashed on the butt in your first battle, howling like you were dying.” “Shut up, that was ages ago, why bring it up now? I’m a super sharpshooter now!” Old Tune’s face fell, but he didn’t mock the little boss further. Indeed, apart from a few exceptionally gifted individuals, most little players had traumatic first battles in games, simply overcoming the barrier of virtual reality being a huge hurdle. “Ahem, I was just nervous earlier! Never seen such vicious demonic things in reality before.” Seeing Meow King shake his head and approach, the little boss Feel You Poor felt embarrassed and tried to explain, but before he could say more, Meow King put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him aside, saying, “Why don’t I just refund your down payment...” “Hey! Since when do businesses operate like that? I know I’m a bit of a noob, but I can learn.” The little boss immediately objected. He felt that Meow King was looking down on him, but Meow King quickly explained: The originally terrified Rich Brother, who thought he might get eaten, immediately regained his spirit upon seeing Meow King’s team arrive as reinforcements. He seemed to be clutching something but didn’t dare move, only shouting continuously. The battle-hardened group didn’t act rashly. The gunner Old Tune first sent out a scout, and the feedback made him turn pale. “Black Iron elite Astral Realm tiger! Its size makes it a BOSS-level!” “Don’t move, let me take it on solo,” Meow King said, suddenly interested. He glanced at the Black Iron Trial details on his character interface and saw the option for a single challenge against an elite Black Iron creature, so he decided to give it a try. “Are you crazy!” Three to Five Pecks, shield at the ready, yelled. “That thing could swallow you whole, its paws are bigger than your head!” “It’s just a try, if I can’t beat it you guys can jump in and help. It’s not like I have to fight to the death, are you stupid?” Meow King rolled his eyes, first casting a Thorn Spells on himself, then conjuring the nature shield he had learned from Lady Tris’s reward skill book, and finally equipping the Avalon replica sacred blade at his waist. This was currently the only “super weapon” among players, and the source of Meow King’s confidence in soloing the elite. He started by binding the Astral Realm tiger with Root Bind, but it broke free in less than three seconds. Amid low, thunderous tiger roars, it struck Meow King with an Intimidating Ferocity, interrupting his spellcasting. The ethereal massive tiger flashed towards him, shattering the nature shield with its paws, sending Meow King rolling away barely avoiding its lethal swipes. “Damn! That strength! What solo, this is crazy!” he cried out, calling for backup. The other brothers finally rushed in laughing, Don’t Need Hands to Show Off pulling his cousin up from the ground, smirking, “The Quest Description warned you, soloing elites is advanced gameplay, no need to risk your life! But you wouldn’t listen. Look at our gear, we don’t even have a full masterwork veteran set yet, no enhancement scrolls, no potions, no buffs, what were you planning to use to solo something even Wu Song would be afraid of? Your willpower and courage?” “It doesn’t cost anything to try, less talking, let’s take this guy down!” A disheveled Meow King had temporarily given up on soloing the elite, an achievement perhaps only a savant could manage, his current character clearly needing a few more days of refinement. Not to mention, at the very least a full “Patriarch’s Guard” standard commander gear set would be required, or being a soul-spec tech player who could go light on gear. A six-man team facing a Black Iron elite Astral Realm tiger still carried immense risk, but fortunately Meow King’s squad had a complete job composition with tank, healer, DPS and a wanderer. After nearly five minutes, they finally crippled the Astral Realm tiger. Under the cover of shield-bearer Three to Five Pecks, Meow King activated his sacred blade, using its Purifying Blade to stab the tiger into a weakened state. “Hey Rich Brother, wanna come down and get a hit in?” Meow King called out. “You’re our financier after all, gotta participate a little, right?” “Tch, I went hunting on the African savannas at twelve, got plenty of experience killing ferocious beasts. You guys finish it, I’m kind-hearted, can’t stand the sight of blood.” The Rich Brother waved his hand, declining to participate. Meow King’s group didn’t stand on ceremony, mobbing the old tiger to send it back to the Astral Realm. It was quite generous, dropping a few starlight-glimmering beast bones that Meow King collected. Only after securing the area did Feel You Poor sluggishly climb down from the pillar, showing decent agility, he clearly frequented the gym regularly. But it was only when he landed that the others saw what he had been cradling. A fluffy, cat-like creature poked its head out from Feel You Poor’s embrace, mewling softly. Its fur, like the Astral Realm tiger’s, glimmered with faint light, leaving the group perplexed. “You nabbed its cub? That’s so unethical!” Day One No Fap said with disapproval. “No wonder the mother tiger chased you.” “What’s with that look? This isn’t a tiger, do you think I’m the kind of scumbag who would bully orphans and widows?” The Rich Brother objected, then openly presented the “kitten” cradled in his arms. Only then did the others see the membranous, bat-like wings folded around its body, and its bizarre, scorpion-like black tail. “After you guys left, I found this little thing in the nearby ruins. It must have just hatched and wandered off, getting targeted by that big tiger,” Feel You Poor stroked the creature unseen in the real world with undisguised affection, certain his lucky encounter in-game had granted him this adorable companion. “Isn’t this an Astral Manticore?” Meow King stroked his chin. “There’s a hidden manticore BOSS in the dungeon halls, damn, could this be that BOSS’s offspring? Didn’t those Witch Hunters who drove it into the dungeon say the mother manticore nested in these ruins?” “Wherever it’s from, this precious baby is mine now, we have a bond.” Feel You Poor declared grandly, cradling his little manticore protectively. The manticore cub clearly feared its surroundings but was also full of curiosity, seeming to recognize Feel You Poor as its savior from the tiger, even licking the Rich Brother’s fingers with its tongue. Though disheveled and filthy, Feel You Poor’s radiant smile showed his earlier foul mood had vanished completely. He said openly to Meow King, “You guys helped me catch my baby, that settles the down payment, don’t mention refunds again. Now for the final task, ask around who can teach me how to raise it? What job should I switch to for raising my little stinker? I need that info. Find it for me! Money? Not a problem!”