Chapter Twenty-Six: Master Woma

“Step back a little, everyone. This creature has a vast attack range. Healers, keep my health topped off from the furthest distance and buff me. Melee classes, prepare for emergencies. Mages, act as you see fit,” Li Ren instinctively commanded, drawing on his extensive gaming experience to handle such situations.

Luo Yue and the others responded to Li Ren’s orders with perfect execution, equally instinctive. Even Luo Yue herself was unaware of why she so naturally obeyed him—it all felt so logical, so inevitable. Perhaps this was the benefit of overwhelming strength; Li Ren’s power gave the girls behind him a profound sense of safety, fostering a mysterious trust among them, despite knowing nothing of Li Ren’s background or history.

“It’s coming!” Li Ren shouted, and his spirited minions, following his lead, instantly swarmed forward, hacking wildly at the Woma High Priest before them. A cascade of -900s appeared above the High Priest’s head, and Li Ren nodded in satisfaction. He left only twenty elite guards within attack range, dispersing the others behind him to counter any special skills the boss might unleash.

He then personally drew his short sword and charged into the fray, his first strike alone slicing over 1,500 HP from the High Priest. Li Ren smiled contentedly. Even though his attributes had been forcibly reduced by seventy percent, the player equipment bonuses were so absurdly high that it hardly mattered. He’d just looted a few accessories and loose pieces while fighting, all boosting his attack, and now, combined with a freshly acquired level-50 defensive armor, his defenses were more than adequate.

“Triple Slash!” Li Ren continuously unleashed his only powerful attack skill, and the High Priest’s health plummeted visibly. His threat level was enormous: though his minions had been attacking for a while, the moment Li Ren joined in, the High Priest immediately focused its assault on him. But what did it matter? With his high HP and defense, the High Priest struggled to make a dent. The group of beautiful priestesses standing behind him kept his health full—he barely lost any HP before it was instantly restored, healing spells raining down on him at every moment, regardless of whether he was actually wounded.

Such extravagant healing was well within his means.

“Roar!” The Woma High Priest seemed driven mad by the situation. After a piercing howl, its two enormous blades suddenly turned pitch black, an intense aura of evil enveloping its body, then bursting out as it swung both weapons. The skeleton guards at the front line bore the brunt of the black shockwave; in an instant, the once pristine skeletons were stained jet black, their HP dropping to zero as they were killed outright.

Li Ren, having anticipated the skill, raised his shield just in time. Luo Yue behind him cast a powerful damage reduction spell on him. The attack swept over Li Ren, instantly dropping his HP by a fifth! Even with the damage reduction, he lost so much health—Li Ren was a little surprised.

“This must be its strongest assigned skill. Damn, it’s powerful! When will I get a skill like that? Once I have it, I could just stand there and wipe out enemies like bullying children, haha,” he fantasized, but his hands never stopped moving. He summoned the minions who’d retreated, and together they resumed the assault. Under the High Priest’s furious roar, its first health bar was swiftly depleted.

A clatter.

Equipment and gold flooded the ground. Li Ren glanced over and saw only gear, but among them was a gold-tier item! Yet the token they sought was nowhere to be found.

He shook his head at Luo Yue, and the others’ expectations turned to disappointment—but they were quickly distracted by the bounty before their eyes. The richness of the rewards was irresistible.

Li Ren didn’t care much for equipment; once he returned to his original form, he couldn’t use it anyway. Better to give it to his companions as a favor. His attention was focused on consumables, as bosses usually dropped rare special items after a first kill.

Sure enough, after searching, Li Ren found something unusual: a small, dark iron shard. Its description read only: “A pitch-black iron shard. Unknown energy dissipating.”

Li Ren picked it up, and the system prompted: “You have acquired the item Iron Shard. Bind it?”

Ordinary equipment could be freely traded, but anything with this prompt was either useless or extraordinary. He considered and chose to bind it. Instantly, a surge of dark energy poured from his body into the shard. His experience bar visibly plummeted, the loss so rapid that even the experience gained from the recent monster kills wasn’t enough—the shard began draining his accumulated experience.

Fortunately, the process was brief. It consumed all the progress he’d made to reach level 53, dropping him back to level 50.

After absorbing so much energy, the shard appeared unchanged, save for a revised description: “A pitch-black iron shard. Unknown energy now preserved within.”

No further hints were given.

Li Ren called Luo Yue over to collect the scattered equipment. Surprisingly, she refused, insisting that they were already satisfied with the gear dropped from regular monsters. As this was their first loot, the quality was elevated, with many blue-tier items and even a few purple ones.

They felt very fortunate, but seeing the blue-tier minimums and even a gold-tier item among the loot, they were embarrassed to accept such precious equipment. After all, Li Ren had done all the work, and even without them, he could have cleared the area solo. Besides, each of them had leveled up three or four times. Such rapid advancement meant they wouldn’t complain even without gear, especially since this was all for their guild’s founding.

Li Ren smiled wryly at the equipment. No matter how good it was, it was useless to him. After much persuasion, he kept the gold-tier item, forcing the rest onto Luo Yue. She reluctantly acquiesced, though in her heart, she vowed to repay him someday—she was not someone who liked to take advantage.

As for Li Ren, he cared little for these things.

He casually converted the High Priest’s corpse into blood essence, absorbing it into his body. The experience gained nudged his level-50 experience bar forward, and he nodded in satisfaction—it was decent progress.

When he checked his attribute panel, he finally noticed something unusual. After countless kills with no change, his stats had suddenly increased, and not by a small amount: all attributes had risen by fifty points at once! His strength, formerly just 140, was now awkwardly high.

He realized that, aside from players, only bosses like the one before him could still provide attribute gains. Other monsters had ceased to offer any since he began his advanced progression.

“It seems, to keep improving my stats, I’ll have to hunt bosses around the world, or target players—there really are no other ways,” Li Ren mused, leading Luo Yue and the others onward.

Since they hadn’t found the guild token on the High Priest, they would have to challenge the Woma Chief next.

He noticed the “+2” beside his soul count, but lacking clues, he put it aside—these were absorbed, and he’d probably use them for summoning in the future. If the “+2” proved useful, he’d deal with it then.

With these thoughts, the group pressed forward to the Chief’s chamber.

They were engrossed in leveling and monster hunting, while those outside suffered in comparison.

No one knew who first noticed, but shortly after Li Ren, Luo Yue, and their twenty companions left, their levels began to change. First, someone gained a level, then everyone did. Soon, the departed twenty gained another level. At that point, the remaining players outside grew restless.

Friends messaged each other in disbelief, watching as their former peers’ levels skyrocketed. They were so stunned they lost all motivation to grind or hunt monsters, frantically messaging the twenty who had left.

The replies were unanimous: all referenced Luo Yue’s confidentiality rule, with details promised for a meeting upon their return.

Luo Yue held considerable authority among them; no one pressed further. They simply watched their absent friends, silently counting the minutes, watching as their levels shot up yet again.

No one knew how many hearts were broken in that short span of time.