"Cheating software..." Su Yu's lips twitched involuntarily.
He hadn't expected the archer to jump to that conclusion.
Without blushing or skipping a beat, Su Yu explained, "You're mistaken. I don't have any cheats. Just now, a high-level NPC happened to pass by and killed these wild boars."
"I see." Other than the archer, the rest of the team believed Su Yu's explanation and nodded in understanding.
Since "Evolution" had just been launched, it wouldn't make sense for cheats to exist so soon.
If not for cheating software, the only other explanation was the "high-level NPC passing by." Otherwise, no one would believe that the wild boar corpses scattered all over the ground were the work of Su Yu alone.
Sharp-eyed Snow Fall noticed the "lv2" tag after the "Nemesis" suffix and exclaimed, "Nemesis, you leveled up? Just now I saw you were still level 1!"
"That's because... that high-level NPC threw me a buff when he left, allowing me to solo the wild boars. I was already close to leveling up so after killing a few boars, I leveled up." Su Yu shrugged.
The team also noticed Su Yu's level and praised him:
"My god, he's already level 2!"
"We've been killing wild boars here since the server opened and we're only at 85% experience for level 1!"
"Did you receive some kind of hidden quest?"
The team leader, a warrior, came over to Su Yu and extended his hand:
"Hello! I'm the East Mountain Sword, team leader of the 'Zhan Tian' guild. Are you a solo player, my friend? Would you be interested in joining our guild? Our guild is the strongest guild in 'Magic Realm'..."
East Mountain Sword was blabbering on.
Seeing that Su Yu was at a higher level than them, he was instantly inspired to recruit him.
As for "Magic Realm", it was a highly popular online virtual reality game before "Evolution" launched.
...
"Zhan Tian Guild?"
Upon hearing this name, Su Yu's eyes flashed with intense fury and resentment.
Zhan Tian Guild was a renowned top-tier guild in his previous life, ranked third nationwide.
The guild leader, Zhan Tianjian, was extraordinarily strong and well-respected, with an impeccable reputation.
However, Su Yu was aware that in his previous life, Zhan Tianjian had secretly sided with the Skuru people.
The "honest and upright" Zhan Tianjian led his core team to betray Country at the most crucial moment, thus directly resulting in the failure of the East Sea defense war, with millions of citizens falling under the butchery of the Skuru people.
Consequently, upon hearing the name "Zhan Tian", Su Yu's favorable impression towards the players before him instantly plummeted to the freezing point.
However, the Zhan Tian Guild had not yet betrayed humanity in this life, so the hatred in Su Yu's eyes was fleeting.
"No need for the invitation. I just wanted to try out the game. I might lose interest in a couple of days."
Just like that, Su Yu turned abruptly and walked away without looking back.
"Ah—" Snow Fall reached out, hoping to hold Su Yu back. She didn't forget the reason why they came to the level 3 monster area was to invite Su Yu to level up together.
However, Snow Balm quickly stopped her, "Fall, don't disturb him. Let's return to the level 2 monster area and continue leveling."
As a recently retired military officer, Snow Balm noticed the fleeting hatred in Su Yu's eyes.
Although unsure of the reason, he knew that Su Yu was in no mood for games, and hence, instructed his daughter not to bother him.
...
East Mountain Sword's team was confused by Su Yu's abrupt exit.
The pretty female priest in the team thought Su Yu was looking down on them and commented irritably,
"Hmph! What's so great about him? Just because he completed some hidden quest and leveled up to 2, he doesn't even acknowledge our Zhan Tian Guild!"
She was confident about her appearance and she was livid that Su Yu hadn't even glanced at her when he saw her.
"Exactly, we're the number one guild in 'Magic Realm'! Many people can't even get in!"
"He's way too arrogant, thinking he's superior."
The other two members of East Mountain Sword's team echoed their agreement.
Even East Mountain Sword himself thought that Su Yu was looking down on them, and his expression turned sour.
Snow Balm sensed a deeper reason behind Su Yu's departure.
So, he laughed and diverted attention from Su Yu:
"Haha, if you all are high-end players from the 'Zhan Tian Guild', would you allow me and my daughter to join your guild?"
At Snow Balm's words, the conversation shifted away from Su Yu.
East Mountain Sword glanced at Snow Fall and quickly nodded, "Of course! After reaching level 10 and entering the main city, I'll invite you to join the guild."
As Snow Fall was an attractive woman and as beautiful players were a scarce resource in online games, East Mountain Sword naturally wouldn't refuse.
Thus, under Snow Balm's deliberate guidance, the departure of Su Yu was temporarily forgotten by East Mountain Sword's team, and they continued to level up cheerfully in the boar zone.
...
Level 4 monster zone.
In the vast leveling area, there was only Su Yu.
He strolled casually in the monster zone.
After leveling up to level 2, his [Lightning Bolt] could deal nearly 100 points of damage to unarmored targets!
The level 4 wild monster, [Slope Sheep] only had 60 points of health. Even when factoring in the monster's defense and level gap, they could not withstand Su Yu's spell.
-78
-62 ([Fireball Skill] Scroll)
-80
-61
-83
The [Slope Sheep] fell one after another at Su Yu's feet, not much different from the [Black Wild Boars] earlier.
"Ding! You killed a level 4 [Slope Sheep] and gained 4 experience points."
"Ding! You killed a level 4 [Slope Sheep] and gained 4 experience points and [Sheep Meat]."
"Ding! You killed a level 4 [Slope Sheep]..."
Though leveling up was monotonous, Su Yu's mind was wandering far away.
The thought that occupied him most was about the "Zhan Tian Guild".
In his previous life, the Zhan Tian Guild was a mammoth obstacle to Su Yu.
Just to mention, the power of Zhan Tianjian alone was possibly greater than a hundred Su Yus combined.
But in this life, should he do something to suppress the Zhan Tian Guild?
Such as delaying their guild's development, creating enemies for them, or even driving Zhan Tianjian out of the game?
Feeling firm about his decision, Su Yu nodded. He couldn't let a traitor gain strength unchecked!
But here came the problem:
The Zhan Tian Guild had a good reputation and had a loyal following from "Magic Realm", which meant they had the support from the majority of ordinary players.
Unprovoked suppression of an upright guild would only tarnish his reputation and inspire sympathy from the ordinary players for the guild, making them even more determined.
So, how was he supposed to suppress the Zhan Tian Guild?
Su Yu fell deep into thought.