Chapter Four: The Newcomer Butcher (Part One)

Two flashes of white light passed, and the two people before him died without the slightest hesitation. Soon, their corpses turned into piles of bones—a unique mark left after resurrection at the revival point.

Instinctively, Li Ren cast his innate skill, Blood Essence Conversion, on the corpses of the two, and, to his surprise, two clusters of blood essence appeared before him, each flecked with white specks. “Could it be that a player’s blood essence is edible too?” Li Ren hesitated for a moment, then tossed one of the clusters into his body. The blood essence vanished quickly, and just like with the wild chickens, his HP instantly recovered somewhat. Unfortunately, that was all the effect the blood essence had. Seeing nothing else unusual, he threw the other cluster in as well.

Suddenly, this piece of blood essence emitted a strong white light, and his strength attribute surged by four points, reaching a total of eighteen. The change left him utterly astonished, his mouth agape with joy. With his attributes improved, he checked his experience bar, and upon seeing the result, this reserved fellow let out a sly, satisfied chuckle—from that moment on, peace in Calf Village was forever lost.

Both of those two had been level-one novices. By all rights, killing them should have yielded experience similar to killing a wild chicken. But when Li Ren checked his experience bar, he realized that players were indeed different from wild chickens! Each of them had given him ten percent experience—a full ten percent at level seven, the equivalent of a hundred wild chickens! Though they were a bit harder to kill, it was well worth the trouble.

Just as Li Ren was basking in his delight, ready to embark on a killing spree, a pig-like scream of rage echoed from within Calf Village, just as he expected. He already knew what had happened: the four extra attribute points he’d gained had landed exactly on that 0.01% chance, directly draining thirty percent of that burly man’s strength. No wonder the man howled in agony.

Li Ren chuckled to himself and waited. When the two didn’t reappear, he wasn’t worried. Sure enough, before long, a group of five approached, including the two from before.

The five were all dressed similarly—a common sight among novices, as each had only the basic starter gear. Li Ren eyed them, brimming with confidence after his four-point boost in strength.

They must have planned their strategy back in the village, for they wasted no words and immediately assumed an attack formation: warriors in front, mages in the rear, with the burly man and the sharp-faced fellow charging ahead.

Among the three at the back, there was one archer and two mages, all level one as well. Assessing the situation, Li Ren judged that with his additional four strength points, if the burly man took another sword strike like before, he’d die instantly—no time to drink a potion. This was a clear advantage.

To be honest, level-one archers and mages weren’t particularly threatening. At best, they could hurl a few magic missiles, each dealing ten to twenty points of damage, but after a few spells, their MP would be depleted. However, Li Ren’s own health wasn’t vast, so he couldn’t afford to drag out the fight. A protracted battle would only harm him.

As the burly man charged once more, it was obvious he was desperate, ready to risk everything. Losing four attribute points was a bitter pill to swallow—like having a top-tier account suddenly crippled.

"Die!" roared the burly man, swinging his massive club with imposing force. But it was futile; Li Ren had already nimbly sidestepped and was sprinting toward the group’s sole archer.

The archer had only just nocked an arrow, preparing to aim, when suddenly the so-called mini-boss was right in front of him. This shouldn’t have happened; with two warriors drawing aggro in front, he hadn’t even loosed a shot. How could he possibly attract enemy attention?

Before he could voice his grievances, the archer fell to Li Ren’s dagger.

The thrill of catching his foes off guard was exhilarating—this was true domination! “Who says I have to attack the warriors first? Don’t mistake me for a typical boss, or you’ll all meet a miserable end!” Li Ren grinned smugly to himself, picking up the archer’s bow—a novice training bow, dealing only 1–1 damage. At that moment, two magic missiles struck him.

-15, -18—the numbers flashed. Li Ren barely glanced at them, keeping his eyes on the two who had closed in again. He didn’t bother dodging, and with a swing of his sword, cut both down where they stood. They probably tried to use their potions as they died—hmph, if you want to drink a potion, you’ll have to get past my blade first!

The mages, seeing the situation turn dire, realized their meager mana wouldn’t be enough to finish him off. Were they supposed to fight him in melee at the end?

Exchanging glances, the two turned and fled. Li Ren did what he could—taking aim with the bow, he loosed an arrow. With a whoosh, one of them took an arrow in the back. Judging the distance, Li Ren nocked another arrow and fired. Unsurprisingly, one mage fell heroically, and the last one barely escaped, though in a sorry state.

Li Ren then methodically converted the four fallen players into blood essence and consumed them one by one. To his shock, three out of the four yielded attribute points—a ten percent chance, and it triggered three times in a row! Li Ren was a little stunned, but this wasn’t the time to linger.

Though Calf Village was remote, the influx of players had brought plenty of people. If he stayed much longer, he’d likely be beset by dozens of players. As he was now, he couldn’t withstand an onslaught from so many.

He picked up the fallen mage’s novice staff and, seeing only a sliver left on his experience bar, finally decided to try hunting wild deer.

Previously, his attributes hadn’t been sufficient, but now they’d grown nicely, and he had both a bow and a staff. Taking down a deer should be no trouble.

He quickly left the area, heading to the small hill where he’d first arrived—a place teeming with wild deer.

At the current player levels, no one would come here. Even if they did, they’d only get slaughtered by the deer, so why bother?

Li Ren found a particularly advantageous spot. The most dangerous thing about wild deer was the charging collision after they were attacked, not to mention their sharp antlers, which were deadly up close.

The place he’d chosen had caught his eye when he was hunting wild chickens—a narrow passage, only wide enough for one person at a time. Large, high-level elite deer would have their sharp antlers stuck in the gap and be unable to move.

Previously, lacking ranged attacks, Li Ren had abandoned this idea. Now, with both a bow and a staff, he could finally put his plan into action.

Ordinary players didn’t have it so tough—the wild deer around the novice village were just higher-level monsters, nothing more. Compared to the fixed five attribute points per level and the freely allocated points from constitution, even a level-five wild deer with twenty points in all attributes was nothing, provided one was careful enough.

However, for Li Ren, now at level seven, leveling up didn’t grant additional attribute points—each level only increased his HP. For attribute points, he had to rely on his own efforts.

In this spot, which could be considered a bug in the terrain—useless to most players—Li Ren gleefully chipped away at the deer’s health with arrows and magic. Each deer was worth as much experience as fifty wild chickens, and before long, his attributes slowly increased again. The most he gained at once was a single attribute point, but that was permanent and without limit, after all.

Time meant little to Li Ren. Whether due to the blood essence or the system’s design, he was always alert and never felt the least bit tired.

Thus, he continued to hole up in his spot, tirelessly using his bow and casting spells. Only when both the bow and magic skills reached their level-one peak did he finally stop.

He checked his level—already twelve. Remembering he could advance with his “Free Advancement” skill, he immediately activated it. Sure enough, at level ten, he could advance once. There was only one option available: Skeleton Soldier—a name far more imposing than “Cannon Fodder.”

After selecting it, a misty gray fog enveloped him. His previously slight and “distinctive” skeleton began to grow, the white bones now gleaming with a tougher, more resilient sheen.

He barely had time to savor his new body or examine his new attributes before he was forced to confront a familiar and embarrassing predicament—dismantling himself.

Why dismantle himself, you might wonder? Just look at his current situation. In his eagerness to advance, he hadn’t considered his surroundings.

Recall that this narrow space could only accommodate an average person, and now that his body was larger—inevitably, he was stuck!