——
[Shadow Flash (Silver): Assassin skill. Blink in one direction (up to 15 meters) and enter stealth mode (lasting 5 seconds), delivering 3 slashes to all enemies in your path. Cooldown: 12 (actual cooldown: 10.43) seconds. Skill requirement: Level 4]
[Slash Width: 2.1 meters. Each slash adds 100 attack points, guaranteed to be a backstab but cannot deal weak point damage.]
——
Qin Feng took the skill book in his hand and immediately learned it.
If he had learned this skill earlier, it would have cut the time needed to kill the Silver-tier Curser in half!
The most important thing was...
This skill not only allowed him to stay in stealth but also dealt area damage!
As for the cooldown, 12 seconds was the base cooldown, and 10.43 seconds was the actual cooldown due to his 15% cooldown speed attribute.
"An attack range of 15 meters long and 2.1 meters wide."
"This is going to be amazing for killing smaller monsters."
"Through evolution, I might be able to increase the range... but no need to rush it just yet."
Qin Feng then focused on his 'Greedy Hand' skill.
After evolving it four times, it was now time for the fifth evolution.
The required evolution points were 1, 2, 3, 5, and now 8 points.
"So, the evolution points needed for each upgrade seem to follow a pattern—it's always the sum of the previous two upgrades?"
"If I'm correct, the sixth evolution will need 13 points?"
As Qin Feng thought this through, he spent the 8 evolution points and evolved Greedy Hand again!
——
[You have used 8 evolution points. Remaining points: 4.]
[Greedy Hand (Emerald → Diamond): Assassin skill. Can be used on monster corpses, with a 160% → 220% chance to obtain an additional loot item. The chance of upgrading the loot quality has increased from 20% → 40%.]
——
Seeing the improvement, Qin Feng couldn't help but gasp in excitement.
"Now, every monster I kill will drop at least two extra loot items!"
"Killing one monster is like killing three for others!"
"And there's a 20% chance I might get three extra rewards..."
"Plus, a 40% chance of upgrading the loot quality!"
With this evolution, Qin Feng felt that the skill was becoming ridiculously overpowered!
When he checked the conditions for the next evolution of Greedy Hand, he confirmed his guess—he needed 13 evolution points for the next upgrade.
Without Greedy Hand, those 13 points would take Qin Feng quite a while to gather...
But with this skill, as long as there were bosses to fight, evolution points would be much easier to come by!
"Still have 4 points left. Time to boost my combat power."
Qin Feng realized that he couldn't one-shot the Silver-tier boss anymore.
So, increasing his combat power was necessary; otherwise, prolonged battles with higher-level bosses would be risky.
——
[You have used 3 evolution points. Remaining points: 1.]
[Shadow Flash (Silver → Gold → Platinum): Blink in one direction (up to 15 → 18 → 21 meters), enter stealth mode (lasting 5 → 6 → 7 seconds), and deliver 3 → 4 → 5 slashes to all enemies in your path. Cooldown: 12 (actual cooldown: 10.43) seconds.]
[Slash Width: 2.1 → 2.6 → 3.1 meters. Each slash adds 100 → 150 → 200 attack points.]
——
"Upgrading Shadow Flash didn't reduce the cooldown?"
"That's a bit of a letdown."
"But… with just Shadow Flash, I can now stay in stealth indefinitely."
"Three slashes have become five slashes—this damage is going to be insane!"
With 1 evolution point left and no other skills to upgrade at the moment, Qin Feng shifted his attention to the remaining loot.
Nothing else was useful for him, but there was a Silver-tier warrior skill book, 'Battle Roar,' which increased a team's attack and defense by 20 points.
This skill could double the damage and toughness of an entire team in the early stages!
"If a warrior had this skill early on in my last life, they'd have been unstoppable."
"But for now, this skill book is only good for selling..."
Qin Feng felt a bit of regret.
Remaining in stealth, he scanned the area around him...
This dense forest was already in a zone where level 4–5 monsters respawned. The Curser had originally been level 2 but had risen to level 4 after absorbing so much lifespan, which explained the level 4 loot it dropped for Qin Feng.
In the shadow of the nearby trees, three rotten 'Limb Reavers' were cautiously watching the Curser's corpse.
Before they could react...
*Shadow Flash!*
-725!
-725!
-725!
...
Level 4 ordinary monsters had around 1,000 health points.
But with one Shadow Flash, Qin Feng appeared for barely 0.1 seconds before darting across ten meters.
On the path he left behind, all three Limb Reavers were struck twice by slashes and instantly killed!
——
[You have killed 'Limb Reaver (Lv. 4)'.]
[You have gained 80 experience points.]
[You have gained 5 days of tradable lifespan.]
[…]
——
A series of system notifications rang in Qin Feng's mind.
After easily dispatching three monsters, he returned to their corpses and activated Greedy Hand...
"Good thing Greedy Hand has no cooldown."
"Though it's a bit of a shame that each corpse can only be looted once..."
If anyone knew Qin Feng's thoughts, they'd probably want to curse him.
Three guaranteed rewards per kill and he's still not satisfied?
Does he want to loot them multiple times?
The addition of 'Shadow Flash' drastically increased Qin Feng's grinding efficiency!
"It looks like reaching level 10 is only a matter of two hours now."
Qin Feng smiled slightly.
...
While Qin Feng was preparing to grind to level 10 and extract his abilities into the real world...
Back on Earth.
Around the globe, more people were finally reaching level 3 and returning to reality.
Previously, more and more people had been entering the Forsaken Game after falling asleep.
In the real world, their bodies had become semi-transparent and ethereal, causing panic and giving rise to numerous doomsday rumors spreading rapidly!
But as level 3 players began returning...
The truth finally emerged for the public.
"After falling asleep, our consciousness enters a place called the Forsaken Land?"
"Forsaken Game? It's like an online game?"
"Playing this game makes you stronger? I, Zhuo Benwei, am invincible in real life!"
"Don't get too optimistic. I've heard most people keep dying over and over, and every death cuts their lifespan in half."
"So, killing monsters in the game grants lifespan? Could this be a way to achieve immortality?"
"Who knows if any of this is real?"
"How do you explain something that forces everyone worldwide into a game when they fall asleep?"
"It's true! In my town, there was an old man with only a few days left to live. After dying in the game a few times, he died in real life. The whole town received a death notice, but no one knows for sure if that's what killed him in reality..."
Online forums around the world exploded with discussions.
The Forsaken Game instantly became the hottest topic worldwide!
Jianghai City, Jianghai Normal University.
Qin Xiaoyou and Chu Yan, who had returned to their dorm, naturally learned about the Forsaken Game as well!