Chapter Five: The Newcomer Butcher (Part Two)

Watching as the bones of his own body were taken apart one by one and neatly arranged to the side, until he finally managed to squeeze out of that damned crevice in the rock, Li Ren found that less than half of his body was still intact when he emerged. He had reassembled his bones so many times by now that he was thoroughly adept at putting himself back together. Once he reached a spacious spot, it didn’t take long before he had restored his original form.

He exhaled deeply and opened his attribute panel. When he glanced at it, a hint of amusement flashed through his eyes.

Character Name: Bone by Bone
Race: Skeleton / 2200 MP 2200 / 2200 HP
Strength: 22
Intelligence: 18
Constitution: 19
Agility: 21
Bone Foundation: 999
Luck: -13
Class: Skeleton Soldier
Hidden Attributes: Free Advancement, Attribute Absorption (Level 0), ?????

The attributes looked normal enough, but the HP was truly staggering. He remembered clearly that at level 12 he had only 210 HP. That meager bit of health had left a deep impression. Now, in the blink of an eye, his HP had increased more than tenfold.

It seemed that while the skeleton class was a bit behind in attributes, this HP growth was truly at the level of a boss monster.

Li Ren chuckled to himself. Although he had only killed six players so far, he had absorbed the attributes of five of them. Statistically, this was abnormal. It couldn't be due to his own luck—after all, his negative luck stat was glaringly clear before him. There was only one explanation: absorbing the essence of players granted a bonus!

He recalled how, every time he used his skill to turn a player into a blood essence orb, there were specks of light swirling within—very different from ordinary monsters. Now that he had so much HP, he wasn’t afraid of being instantly killed by these low-level rookies. If he didn’t go out to bully them and test his theory, what was he waiting for?

Laughing aloud, Li Ren strode out from his hiding spot, circled the small hill, and headed straight for Calf Village with an open swagger.

Ever since the system had opened up, his own privileges had increased significantly. Things he couldn’t see before were now accessible to him, and a lot of information naturally settled in his mind. For instance, the in-game to real-world time ratio was 4:1; that meant four hours in the game equaled only one hour in reality. With this calculation, even slightly more persistent players could stay online for two days and two nights straight.

He could also observe various game rankings. With a casual tap, he opened the leaderboards. At present, only the level rankings displayed player names. When he looked, his heart sank and he cursed under his breath, quickening his pace toward Calf Village.

The top ten on the level leaderboard were all above level 18. When he had entered the game, he had already been level 7, but now, while he was only level 12, others had already reached level 18. The gap was enormous! Li Ren felt disgruntled, and when he was unhappy, someone else was bound to suffer for it. Sure enough, a hapless victim soon appeared.

“Ranger, come quick! A skeleton soldier just spawned here. Judging by the looks, it should be a field boss. Let's take it down fast.”

“Good. Stay put and keep an eye on it. Don’t let anyone else find out. Early-game field bosses are a big help for leveling up.”

“I know. There’s no one else around. I’ll keep watch—hurry up!”

From a distance, Li Ren could already see a player dressed as a swordsman lurking about, clearly calling for reinforcements. This suited Li Ren’s intentions perfectly. “The more, the merrier,” he thought. “Saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one. What a bother.”

He consoled himself, “It’s not that I’m heartless. We’re all newbies here. It’s not easy for anyone. If you die, you can still come back. If I die, I’ll really be meeting the King of Hell. Sorry to have to shortchange you all.”

Sure enough, after he paced around pretending to patrol, a team soon hurried over. Their leader was a warrior in leather armor wielding a gleaming longsword, at least of common quality. Equipment ranked from lowest to highest: gray, white, green, blue, purple, gold, dark gold, orange, and red. Orange weapons were already legendary, while red was something only the level 200+ overlords on the map possessed.

Gazing at that gleaming longsword, Li Ren felt a pang of desire. With his terrible luck, monsters never dropped anything for him. The only way to acquire gear was to take it from players.

The group of seven quickly joined the swordsman hiding nearby. After some discussion, they all rushed toward Li Ren.

He posed, turning to face them in what he thought was a majestic stance. Who knew what he actually looked like? In his mind, at least, he looked impressive.

“Stone, you draw his attention from the front. Dapeng, you and I will flank him. The rest of you act freely, but hit hard and finish the fight quickly,” the leader directed, not regarding Li Ren as any threat.

Li Ren didn’t mind. After all, he was a monster now. Who would chat with a monster before killing it? That would be foolish.

The team was well structured. At the back, all wore mage robes, and among them was a young woman in a pristine white priest’s robe.

“A priest too—how annoying,” Li Ren muttered viciously. Priests were a bug in the eyes of monsters; their powerful healing could keep bosses alive no matter how fierce the attack, as long as someone could withstand a single blow. Unless he could kill the priests first, he might end up dead himself.

Judging by their gear, Li Ren realized his shabby weapon and strength likely couldn’t kill them in one hit. He decided to take out that girl first if the opportunity arose, though he felt a twinge of guilt.

The warrior named Stone stepped forward, brandishing a massive shield in one hand and a short sword in the other—a tank through and through. Most of his skills were defensive, making him as tough as a turtle. Worse, his attacks generated massive aggro, the bane of countless monsters.

Li Ren went through the motions. If he acted too strong, he’d draw unwanted attention from more experienced players. He slashed at Stone’s shield—there was a loud clang as his strike landed, but the shield only shuddered slightly. Li Ren had only used a fraction of his strength, telling himself it was just a test.

The showy attack dealt less than 20 damage to Stone, who had over 400 HP. It was almost laughable.

Seeing Stone easily withstand the hit, the other players relaxed, thinking that even if they took a direct blow, they’d survive. They were all around level 8, with base HP of at least 170. A 20-damage attack was no threat.

As the others charged at him, Li Ren smirked inwardly: “These fools fell for it so easily. Let’s see how much experience these level 8 players can give me.”

Feigning another attack at Stone, the leader—Ranger—saw an opening and, together with Dapeng, charged at Li Ren. Their swords struck him in unison.

Instantly, three red damage numbers—50, 60, and 100—popped above his head. Li Ren was shocked. These brutes hit hard, especially Ranger, who managed to take off 100 HP with a single strike.

“Can’t let myself be bullied by noobs and end up bullied instead. That would be pathetic.” Resolving to take them seriously, Li Ren shed his earlier awkwardness and swiftly slashed at Dapeng. Dapeng hadn’t expected such a quick reaction, nor for the attack to target him, one of the lower-HP members. In a split second, his vision turned gray, and a beam of white light marked his defeat.

Li Ren chuckled to himself, “These rookies really thought I was just another pushover. Let’s show them there’s always a bigger fish in the sea!”