With four bills in hand and the disdainful gaze of the bank teller behind him, Ye Feng converted them into 400 credit points via the banking system. His day passed in the usual monotonous yet leisurely manner.
Ye Feng's life was blissfully uncomplicated, requiring no excessive toil or mental exertion. Each day was a cycle of eating, sleeping, gaming, and then waking to eat again, his existence as simple as a blank canvas. This was, of course, thanks to the excellent welfare system. A few centuries ago, he would have likely starved on the streets. Indeed, it would be cruel to expect someone with cognitive impairments like Ye Feng to engage in strenuous thinking.
This day was spent in a quiet, sparsely populated park at a street corner. It was rare to find such a tranquil place in a bustling city. Sunbathing, listening to the pleasant chirping of birds, and occasionally torturing himself with futile attempts to recall his past, Ye Feng passed the day effortlessly.
As evening approached, the once sunny sky turned cloudy within minutes. Raindrops the size of beans, driven by strong winds, pelted down like a stormy skill aimed at Ye Feng. Remarkably, he quickly felt a wave of drowsiness. If high-ranking players in the game "Light" saw this, they would be envious enough to want to smash their heads with a hammer seven or eight times. This guy sleeps so much! How many hours does he play every day?
...
Returning home, Ye Feng hastily consumed some food, gulped down a glass of water from the faucet, and eagerly entered his game pod. Compared to his daytime life, Ye Feng would rather sleep twenty-four hours a day.
As the fog dissipated, Ye Feng found himself in the death-infested Dragon Mountain, just as the sun was setting.
People cannot live under the sun every day, so the game's time difference was synchronized with reality. Most played during the night and seldom fought during the day. Ye Feng's occupation allowed him the luxury of sleeping whenever he wanted, so the sight of skeletal soldiers in the sunset was not new to him.
Under the moonlight, the once ghastly white bones of the skeletons took on an almost sacred, ivory-like glow. Ye Feng, however, was not complacent. With calm judgment and precise maneuvers, he struck down groups of skeletal soldiers, each receiving a fatal blow when they had only a sliver of health left, steadily accumulating experience.
As night fell, Dragon Mountain was enveloped in a ghostly aura, both terrifying and despair-inducing. The eerie atmosphere, accompanied by the sense of death, created a formidable ambiance. Under the faint moonlight, Ye Feng remained the only player in this desolate landscape.
"—Flame of Light." Burning four nearly dead skeletal soldiers to ashes once more, Ye Feng remained unfazed by his surroundings. Having slept in real cemeteries and built makeshift shelters there, a virtual graveyard was nothing to fear. Picking up the few copper coins dropped by the skeletons, he began to meditate.
Ye Feng wasn't stingy with potions. Despite being so poor that he almost had to beg on the streets daily, the potion prices in "Light" weren't exorbitant. Anyone who could afford electricity could buy potions. However, the infuriating resistance mechanism limited potion effectiveness. The number of potions one could consume daily was strictly regulated according to level. If one didn't fear adverse reactions like fainting or rigidity from overuse, they could avoid meditation.
——Caw, caw! As Ye Feng meditated, the system suddenly spawned a skeletal soldier beside him. The new skeleton instantly identified Ye Feng as an enemy and charged with its black sword! For a seasoned solo player like Ye Feng, this was routine.
Never exhausting all his magic at once, just like a prudent investor never putting all funds in one basket, Ye Feng had reserved about one-eighth of his MP from the brief meditation. This was more than sufficient to defeat a skeletal soldier.
"—Agony!" This was Ye Feng's only single-target attack spell, albeit a rather weak one. If it didn't come with a secondary effect of reducing 5 HP per second after hitting, it would be too wasteful to use even for luring monsters.
"Agony deals a base damage of 35, with an additional 30% bonus against undead. The skeleton's magic defense is 30, meaning each use deducts 15 HP. Combined with the HP reduction effect, considering the skeleton's own regeneration, the most efficient strategy is to use the skill every 2 seconds. After 11 uses, a skeletal soldier can be killed."
The milky white holy beam struck the frail skeleton soldier. Though its brilliance was somewhat dimmed in the eerie deathly atmosphere, its secondary effect was unaffected. One hit, two hits... Ye Feng methodically cast his spells.
——The skeleton soldier didn't fall!
After eleven casts, Ye Feng had less than 100 MP left, but the skeleton soldier, rather than falling, had grown larger after a glow of light enveloped it.
——Mutation!
The dreaded word immediately surfaced in Ye Feng's mind. It wasn't his first encounter with mutated monsters. Back in the novice village, he had seen a level 0 rooster mutate, instantly becoming level 10, slaughtering over a dozen newly spawned players!
At level 23, a sheep outside Waterwheel City mutated into a level 30 demonic ram, dropping a level 40 warrior's blue weapon upon defeat.
Mutation meant rage, and it also signified the potential drop of rare items!
"Perfect, time to use a potion." Ye Feng took out a light blue potion from his spatial backpack. Unlike store-bought potions, this one had a brighter hue and higher purity.
Recalling his toughest time at level 40, Ye Feng had to take up a crafting profession to make money. In his first attempt at potion-making, he produced a high-quality, low-resistance potion. Selling it at the Dragon City market, the potions were snatched up immediately!
This scene made Ye Feng wonder if he had been a famous alchemist in real life.
Drinking the potion, his MP surged, reaching its maximum almost instantly.