"Holy shit! That was amazing! How did you do that at such a low level?!" Unlucky Warrior exclaimed in an excited voice after his initial shock.
After picking up the Silver Fur left behind by the Silver Gorilla, Bai Tian turned to look at him and smiled, "It's all thanks to this weapon."
Their gaze shifted to his Black Slime Sword.
Forgot My Shield swallowed nervously before asking, "Is that a Magic-grade weapon?"
"That's right."
To their surprise, Bai Tian admitted to having a Magic-grade treasure, as players would normally hide such information in order to avoid being killed.
"Wow, I didn't expect you to admit it. Aren't you worried that we might try to take it from you?" Forgot My Shield asked him, wondering if he was ignorant or stupid.
Hearing such a question, Bai Tian smiled and asked, "Do you want to try?"
"Eh?" His teammates' eyes widened at his words.
Bai Tian then said, "I am not worried about it being stolen. If you have what it takes to steal from me, you deserve it. That's all there is to it."
And he asked again, "So, do you want to try?"
His teammates were speechless. It turns out he was neither ignorant or stupid– he was crazy! Or so they think.
Unlucky Warrior and Forgot My Shield turned to look at each other with the same question inside their mind.
'Should we do it?'
They were both a level away from being level 30, and there were two of them while Bai Tian was alone. However, after witnessing what he did to the Silver Gorilla, their instincts told them to not offend this mysterious player.
In the end, Forgot My Shield shook his head and said, "Nah. We don't like PvP. And while a Magic-grade item may be valuable, my own morals are far more valuable."
Bai Tian smiled, "A respectable decision."
They ended their conversation there and continued their grind.
However, Bai Tian would defeat all of the monsters they encounter with a single strike.
This made Unlucky Warrior and Forgot My Shield feel useless and almost like a leech.
"Ahem." Forgot My Shield cleared his throat and said, "You've done enough, my friend. You can take a break while we do some work."
"It's fine, I'm not tired. If you want, we can hunt separately. We will get more experience this way, too." Bai Tian suggested.
Unlucky Warrior then said, "Unless we are inside a dungeon, we cannot be more than 100 meters apart from each other, or we won't be able to share the experience."
"Is that so? Well, if you guys really want to fight, I won't stop you." Bai Tian said.
Forgot My Shield nodded, "Thank you. We invited you to our party, so it'll only be fair if we did some work, too."
Bai Tian didn't say anything else and silently followed them. When they encountered a monster, he stood in a safe distance behind them and watched how they fought.
Forgot My Shield was a level 29 Paladin with the role of a tank, so he stood face to face with the Silver Gorilla to distract it while Unlucky Warrior, a level 29 Fighter, attacked the Silver Gorilla from its blind spot.
The Silver Gorilla became enraged at half health and started going on a rampage, swinging its thick arms around like crazy.
However, Forgot My Shield stood his ground and faced the powerful swings with his shield.
Ding!
[Blocked: 290]
As a Paladin, he had a special stat called 'Block' that was right beside his Health and Mana. Each time he successfully blocked an attack, he would receive 50% less damage, and that damage would take away his Block first before his Health.
"Now!" Forgot My Shield shouted after stopping the gorilla's attack.
Unlucky Warrior rushed in with his sword as its blade started glowing red.
[Power Strike!]
Unlucky Warrior slashed his sword at the Silver Gorilla's back, leaving a trail of red glow behind.
[371]
'Not bad.' Bai Tian approved of their teamwork. It was clear at glance that these two played together often, hence their synergy.
Bai Tian proceeded to let this pair of duos fight Silver Gorillas until they were out of stamina.
Unlike Health and Mana, there were no dedicated stat for stamina. Just like real life, a player will lose stamina for every action they make, some more than others, so they must gauge their own stamina or they will enter a state called Fatigued, where they will have reduced speed and stats.
About an hour later, Bai Tian reached level 20.
"Congratulations on reaching level 20." Forgot My Shield said to him.
"Thank you."
"Unfortunately, your grind just got harder, as the required experience for each level tremendously increases every 10 levels." Unlucky Warrior sighed.
"How long have you two been at level 29?" Bai Tian suddenly asked them.
"Not that long. It's been about 4 hours since we reached level 29. We're progressing a little faster than the average player since we're hunting monsters about five levels higher than our own."
"Do you know what the highest level achieved is right now?"
"Last I checked, which was last night, the highest level that we know of was at level 42, which is ridiculous, considering that the game has only been out for about a week." Unlucky Warrior said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that player is level 45 or higher now. Hell, there might even be a player at level 50. Those who spend a fortune on decking out their equipment at the beginning have a huge advantage, as it lets them hunt monsters far above their own level… Just like you…" Forgot My Shield said as he stared at Bai Tian, who was hunting monsters 15 levels above his own.
"By the way, I have been meaning to ask you…" Unlucky Warrior suddenly spoke, "That move you have been using to one-hit the Silver Gorillas, is it a Skill?"
"Yes, it is." Bai Tian nodded.
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy it? I want to see if that store has any skills for my class that are as powerful."
Bai Tian raised an eyebrow at his question.
"Why did you assume that I bought it?" He asked.
"Huh?" Unlucky Warrior had a puzzled look on his face.
"How else did you obtain it? Martial Artists don't have any starting skills. Don't tell me that you actually found it?"
Bai Tian was surprised to hear this information.
"Wait. You guys started with skills?" He quickly asked.
They both nodded simultaneously.
'What the hell? I wasn't given any starting skills and had to create my own!' He cried inwardly.
This entire time he thought that everyone started out the same– without any skills. Turned out it was just his misunderstanding.
"Don't tell me… You didn't know?" Forgot My Shield looked at him with a dumbfounded face.
"No idea."
"Unbelievable. If you didn't know something like that, then you probably aren't aware that Martial Artist is quite literally the worst class available, as they don't have any starting skills, and the contents of their Beginner's Gift Boxes are trash. They are even referred to as 'Trash Class' by many." Forgot My Shield revealed this shocking information to him.
It was at this moment that Bai Tian finally understood why the couple Li Ming and Ai Ling mocked him for being a Martial Artist, even calling his class 'trash'. It turned out that they were merely stating a fact.