Chapter 057: Another Shocking Pervert Emerges!

There was no time to see clearly—Boss and Fourth were already frantically grabbing loot from the piles scattered all over the ground. You didn’t even need to look at their characters’ swift actions onscreen; just listening to the furious “click-click-click…” of their mice beside you was enough to know how fast they were going.

Poor Lin Jia, a little mage, had done the most work killing monsters, but when it came to picking up equipment, he always came away empty-handed. Unwilling to accept this, Lin Jia dashed out from behind a crumbled wall, risking his life as he threw himself into the dazzling starlight that filled the 12x12 grid on the ground. Only the loyal, silly-looking Skeleton was still hacking away at the dozen remaining zombies, swinging its little axe at a glacial pace.

It wasn’t that he feared his two heartless brothers would snatch up all the gear and leave him nothing—the sudden rush of greed that surged up after a lucky drop simply made all three forget that there was really no need to fight over loot. The urgency, excitement, and thrill of scrambling for equipment was, after all, one of the charms of this game.

The first thing Lin Jia picked up were the seven or eight stacks of gold coins, each over a thousand, lined up on the bottom row of the 12x12 grid. The glittering gold was simply too eye-catching and tempting. The unlucky boy forgot to search for truly valuable equipment and ended up grabbing coins, which were only worth slightly more than potions.

Before long, all three realized they couldn’t pick up any more items. Opening their bags, they saw that every slot was packed full. Only then did they come to their senses and realize there’d been no need to rush after all. They all chuckled sheepishly, tossed out their red and blue potions, and began rummaging for equipment.

Though the Corpse King’s massive loot drop looked impressive, in reality, potions made up ninety percent of it—a "Potion Corpse," as later players would call it. The outermost ring was gold and Sun Water, followed by a layer of red and blue potions, with equipment hidden among the vials. After grabbing the coins, Lin Jia also picked up two skill books and an indistinct piece of jewelry from the second ring.

Boss and Fourth, like efficient water filters, had already picked out all the equipment from among the sea of potions, then did their best to grab as much Sun Water as possible. Sun Water was valuable among potions—selling for 500 gold each at the shop. Normally, when leveling up, unless they were in danger, they’d never use it themselves, choosing instead to sell it, or as Boss liked to say, “many grains of sand make a tower.”

Once they were sure their bags couldn’t hold another item, the three gazed longingly at the sea of potions still on the ground, then retreated behind the broken wall to take stock of what treasures they’d gathered. They hadn’t wanted to leave any loot behind, but after all that leveling up, their bags were already cluttered with random gear, and their recent mad dash had filled every remaining space. Boss shook his head and lamented, “Waste! What a waste! This is downright shameful!”

Lin Jia browsed through his own bag: Sea Soul, Gale, Light Armor, Eight Desolations—none were top-tier. The two skill books, however, made his heart leap. One was the mage’s level 22 skill, “Explosive Flame”; the other, a Taoist’s “Spectral Shield.” As for “Explosive Flame,” Lin Jia had already picked up a copy on his alt account while doing a quest. After just reaching level 22, he was planning to transfer it over, even considering asking Boss, who had a dog’s sense of direction, to run the character for him—otherwise, with his own hopeless navigation, it would probably take hours to reach the city. Now, all that trouble was spared.

As for “Spectral Shield,” Boss needed just one more level to learn it. Lin Jia quickly double-clicked to learn his own skill and set it to the F4 hotkey. With a “whoosh,” a web of fire spread above their heads!

“Whoa! What the hell is that?!” Boss and Fourth, who were busy inspecting their own loot, jumped in shock. Lin Jia burst out laughing. “It’s the ‘Explosive Flame’ skill book I just picked up! Boss, I’ve got a ‘Spectral Shield’ here for you too!”

Boss took it and grumbled, “Damn, another one I can’t use right away!” He was already frustrated—they hadn’t been able to get the level 20 “Invisibility” skill for Taoists, yet the group version, “Group Invisibility,” was sitting uselessly in storage. Now, another skill he couldn’t use immediately—Boss was about to suffer internal injuries from sheer vexation.

Remembering that he could learn “Group Invisibility” at level 21 cheered him up a bit. Single or group, invisibility is still invisibility—as long as it works.

“Hell’s bells, this is unlucky!” Boss cursed, making Lin Jia look at him blankly. “Now what?”

Boss simply pointed at his open inventory. Lin Jia stretched his neck to look and nearly died laughing—Boss really was about to lose it. The Corpse King had dropped two level 22 class outfits: one for Taoists, one for Warriors. Yet, by a cruel twist of fate, the Taoist robe was male-only, and the Warrior armor was for females!

Fourth and Lin Jia burst out laughing. Gasping for air, Fourth managed to say, “Don’t be so down! I got something good you can use!” He traded Boss a Demon-Slaying Sword: level requirement 20, attack 6-11, spirit 1-3, weight 20, durability 17, accuracy +3.

“An extra point of spirit? Two points of accuracy?” Boss stared in disbelief. The Demon-Slaying Sword was the same grade as the Horse-Slashing Saber for Taoists, but unlike the Saber, which added one attack, the most important stats for Taoist or Mage weapons weren’t attack power but the bonus spirit or magic. In Legend, while attack-boosting weapons were seen from time to time, those that boosted class-specific stats were vanishingly rare—just like Lin Jia’s 1-5 Sea Soul, this was a freakishly lucky find.

The two extra points of accuracy made it even more incredible. Among all weapons, only the Demon-Slaying Sword for Taoists had this special stat. Accuracy determined hit rate, so the higher it was, the greater the chance of a successful strike—and the more likely you were to reach maximum damage. Though the sword’s attack was ordinary, the extra accuracy raised its power by several levels. Its well-balanced 6-11 attack was already impressive, and with that absurd +3 accuracy, you could almost call it an 11-11 weapon!

Another priceless treasure!

With this overpowered Demon-Slaying Sword, the three brothers’ weapons simply couldn’t be replaced anytime soon.

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[Trouble: Many brothers have pointed out lots of bugs—I've read every comment carefully and replied to each one. Some apparent bugs are intentional design choices, but there are also genuine oversights, like Boss’s level 0 skeleton leveling up to 3. I used to play Mage and am not that familiar with Taoists, and after so many years, I've forgotten a lot! I won’t edit for now, but will fix it in future chapters. Thank you!

PS: The lack of item pickup protection is deliberate, and there will be related plotlines later. I’m aware of it—please be patient, brothers!]