After the party, everyone gathered outside the hotel to say goodbye. Feng Yi walked over to Li Yao and said, "This is the money you won," as she scanned Li Yao's communicator and transferred a hundred thousand credit points over.
Li Yao smiled, then spoke loudly, "It's not easy for us all to get together in Mingzhu City. We had a great time today. The little bit of money I won from the gambling isn't mine alone. I will give it to our class president, Wang Xiaolei. This money might not be much help, but it is enough to cover our lodging expenses in Mingzhu for a while. I'll leave the arrangements up to Wang Xiaolei."
Without giving anyone a chance to object, Li Yao transferred the hundred thousand credit points to Wang Xiaolei's communicator. Then, he bowed his hands and said, "We've all added each other on the new communication system. If there's anything, don't hesitate to reach out. My ride is here, I'll be going ahead."
A gleam flashed in Feng Yi's eyes. She found that Li Yao was indeed different from before, becoming so unfamiliar and distant. She had suppressed her feelings and was prepared to part ways, but destiny seemed to be playing with her. Thinking about their gaming experience yesterday made Feng Yi daydream.
If it had been the same weapon, she wouldn't be so sure, but the appearance of the Arrow Tower and Exploding Sheep gave her 90% certainty.
"Yaozi, see you in the game," Zhao Lei waved.
Li Yao nodded, got on the hover-bus, glanced at Feng Yi who was also watching him, then slowly turned his head away.
Back home, Li Yao's head was still throbbing. Although he had consumed quite a lot of drinks, he wasn't drunk. Seeing Feng Yi had confused him. He didn't know how to face her, and like before, there was nothing wrong with parting ways.
It was already afternoon in the real world, and Li Yao paid the landlord 7,500 credit points for another quarter of rent. This resolved his eviction problem, after which he returned to his den.
Out of boredom, Li Yao once again entered the game.
The student reunion reminded Li Yao of his need for money.
"Most people are probably clearing new instances these days. I'll rely on instance challenges to earn some money." Li Yao quickly made a decision.
As soon as Li Yao logged on, he saw dozens of private messages, all from the Cute and Innocent. He didn't want to hear them all one by one, so he directly replied, "Little girl, don't you need to go to school during the day? Why are you still in the game?"
A message came back quickly, "Humph, this lady is smart and quick-witted, and I've already self-studied all the high school subjects. Now, don't change the subject. Why didn't you reply to my message until now?"
"Little girl, I have real-life responsibilities too, okay? I replied to your message as soon as I logged on." Li Yao was a bit exasperated.
"I'll let you off this time. So, hurry up and get to the Monster Bird Forest Instance, channel 565. Let's get that Hunter's Badge together."
Li Yao chatted with Cute and Innocent about bargains on various stalls.
By now, Li Yao had learned quite a few "emote skills" that players regarded as normal, such as rolling, climbing and sidestepping, as well as some basic close combat skills.
A hunter can use most melee weapons, naturally, they know some melee skills like stored force slash and diagonal slash. These would be expensive in the later stage, so Li Yao collected several.
Similarly, professions that could use Bows and Arrows, like warriors and rogues, could also learn their basic skills, just that current players are too strapped for cash to learn them.
"A Hunter Star Badge, huh? That's good, a one-star badge provides a lot of attribute bonuses."
As the first challenge instance, this one had different levels of difficulty: trial mode and challenge mode.
One could enter the trial mode instance without any conditions, and completing this would yield a small amount of experience.
The challenge mode, however, had limitations: each player could only clear the instance five times per day.
The first challenge instance was called Monster Bird Forest, where the players challenged a large bird monster boss.
There were two main instances before level ten: a challenge instance between levels three and five and a ten-person adventure instance at level ten, the Evil Cave.
Besides the main instances, there were also side instances. Their difficulty remained consistent but didn't have the glory of world records, such as instance speedrun records and first completions of high-difficulty instances.
The rewards of side instances were also not as good as those of main instances, but the green equipment obtained from them was still desirable.
Challenge instances mainly tested individual skills, allowing players without a team to not fall too far behind those with teams. Adventure instances were for teams, ranging from 5-player instances to 100-player instances; the difficulty increased as more people were needed.
It was said that team instances were measures of synergy and cooperation. The strength of a guild could be determined by the number of instance clear records and first kills it had accumulated. High-difficulty challenge instances were the main barometer for high-end individual player skills. Many pros became famous through challenge instances, becoming well-known stars.
The most representative player was Thief God. He never joined a guild and rose to fame through challenge instances. Later, he took part in various competitions and even represented China in the Olympics, becoming the world's top thief. He achieved divine status in the Divine Enthronement competition, going from a small-time hooligan to a billionaire.
Before Li Yao's eyes was the portal to enter the first challenge instance. Since different races had different professions to choose from and people spread out all over every continent and even mater colonized planets such as Mars.
Inside the sub-channel's mirror space, as told by Cute and Innocent, was a densely packed crowd of almost a hundred thousand players on a giant, island-like airship.
All players of the Dark Camp races, namely the High Elves, Orcs, Trolls, Undead, and Goblins, were bustling about. If trading were allowed here, it would definitely become a huge marketplace.
The regional channel was filled with teaming-up requests. The challenge instances could be taked on by as few as one person or as many as four.
"Looking for healers at Level 3 for initial trials in the Proving Grounds. DPS players are already assembled."
"Challenge mode, need a sharpshooter who can take down bird heads."
"A Level 3 powerhouse warrior with three skills is looking for a challenge team."
Li Yao managed to find Tongtong in the crowd, and he frowned, "There are too many people. I have contacted Witch Sister. Let's go find her together."
Li Yao held Tongtong's hand and asked, "Have you been hanging around here for a while? How is it going? Did you earn any medals?"
"Hmph, just mentioning that makes me mad. I used the Hearthstone to go back to my continent. It wasn't even dark yet, so I tried the way we usually level up, and it was just hell for me. It wasn't working at all."
Li Yao was dumbfounded. She tried to mob grind, which was a way to commit suicide. "You almost died, huh? You mean you almost got people killed."
"They were just too useless. They died trying to gather monsters or when mob grinding. They call themselves professional team players. They're far behind you, brother."
An annoyed looking Tongtong prattled on, "So, I had no choice but to join them in pioneering challenging instances. I got nothing but a Bronze medal in return for almost killing myself. I swear I'll never team up with these idiots again. They are just wasting my precious time."
Li Yao was speechless. He had no idea which team's expert this little girl had harassed. All he could do was offer sympathy for the victim. Mob grinding isn't that easy. Even Li Yao would be courting death if he tried mob grinding without the support of an Exploding Sheep of buffed properties.
The little girl took Li Yao to communicate with the Variable Witch, and they found her quickly. There were three players with her.
Tongtong looked up and asked, "Witch's sister, who are they?"
The Variable Witch coughed lightly and explained, "They are from the Qionghua Club's first team. Just an hour ago, they got a one-star (Bronze) medal. As far as I know, there are fewer than a hundred players in the whole game who have received this Bronze medal. If you also want that medal, they can take one of us each time."
When they heard the Variable Witch's words, a silver-blue light twinkled in their chests, signifying a star. The people around looked at them with admiration, which made them quite proud.
A One-Star Hunter title could be awarded to anyone who managed to pass the Monster Bird Forest Instance in challenge mode. One-star medals are divided into five grades: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
On clearing the challenge mode, players would receive a Black Iron Medal. If the instance evaluation reached S-grade, players remained uninjured, and successfully breached each level one by one, the medal would escalate upwards. However, acquiring a One-Star (Platinum) Medal would require the player to meet all these conditions in the same instance.
The medals do have properties. Like the One-Star Black Iron Medal, for instance, provides a 2% increase in damage and a 2% increase in obtained experience. A platinum medal can provide a 10% increase, which gives extraordinarily transformative properties.
"Let them lead my brother and me. Witch sister, are you kidding me?" Tongtong scanned the three men with disdain and said lightly, "Is the Bronze medal very remarkable? Witch sister, your ambition is really lacking. If I had known, I would have gone with my brother directly."
The Qionghua Club's head magician, Yanchufasui, frowned and replied, "Little girl, you're talking too big. Of course the Bronze medal is important. More than 500 million players are playing this game, but only over a hundred worldwide have obtained a Bronze medal. In the Huaxia region, fewer than five clubs have obtained it. Even if our Qionghua Club is ranked third in Huaxia and thirty-five in the world..."
Pointing proudly at the team's completion record on the massive airship's gas bag, he continued, "The players behind me are puffing their chests out with pride."
He voiced his proclamation loudly enough for the nearby players to hear, and their faces reflected admiration and envy.
"What's the big deal? The team I manage is the second in Huaxia, and we are not as vain as you."
Upon hearing Tongtong mumbling under her breath in the team's voice channel, Li Yao patted her head to keep her from talking, and Tongtong stared at them for a while before falling silent.
Seeing that, on behalf of the Witch, we'll take you with us reluctantly," Yanchufasui declared from his high horse, "Witch, you go first and let them wait."
However, Li Yao said, "Don't bother. We know that your time as experts is precious. We won't impose, being ordinary players. We will play by ourselves. We'll take our leave now."
Li Yao felt resentment bubbling inside him. Although he knew that the disdain professional players and big clubs showed for ordinary players was normal, he didn't want to take it. The game had only just begun a few days ago, it would soon become clear who was an expert and who was a rookie.
"Wait." The Variable Witch shouted and then turned back to say, "I'm sorry, guys, I'd better play with my friends. Thanks for your trouble."
As she said that, she hurried to join Li Yao and Tongtong.
When Yanchufasui saw the Variable Witch leave, he said, "Oh no, the Witch is the boss's friend. We were assigned to help. The boss even warned me to treat her well..."
The other two members also began to look dumbfounded.
"Never mind. We'll wait. I don't believe they can get the medal. They will naturally come to us when they run into a wall. Otherwise, if we go back and the Witch saying a few words to the boss about us..."
The three men waited anxiously at the original spot, no longer looking as superior as they had minutes ago.