Chapter 20

——System Notice: You have maliciously killed a player from the same faction, Blood Sea Rampage. Your reputation has decreased by 60 points! You have become a red name!

——Newbie Notice: A red name can repent at the church, donate to officials, or contribute to reputation to cleanse. A red name with too low reputation will have difficulty entering cities. Please cherish your reputation.

——System Notice: You have reached level 10 and are eligible for a class change. Please apply for a class change with the skill mentor. Human players can change to either a Knight or a Priest. After the class change, you will gain one free attribute point and one system-assigned attribute point per level. The Knight class will have defense automatically assigned by the system, while the Priest class will have knowledge automatically assigned.

——System Notice: You have completed 8/10 of the achievement "Lone Hero 10 Consecutive Wins."

——System Notice: ...

There was no time to read through the long list of system messages. Da Fei immediately took his position and fired the ballista at the small zombies. After being delayed by Blood Sea Rampage, the ballista's health was down to just over 30 points, which was extremely frustrating. Even more frustrating was that he had become a red name! Although being a red name was a common occurrence and a source of pride back in the day, things were different now! He was a professional player now, and he needed to be a good citizen and make money!

Looking at the precarious ballista and the one skill point he gained from leveling up, Da Fei was torn. Should he upgrade the War Machine skill? Forget it, the ballista was already in such a state, what was the point? He decided to save the skill point for later.

However, it wasn't all bad. The biggest gain from this encounter was testing the special effects of the Magic Sea Anemone King's toxin. It reduced all attributes and interrupted critical actions, which was indeed a bizarre and cunning effect! From the previous battle, this interruption saved him from one hit, and the opponent only attacked four times! This was equivalent to a 25% reduction in damage! It also allowed him to get one more shot, which was a 25% increase in damage! The enchantment having such an effect was simply incredible. Were there any restrictions? At the very least, it didn't work on sea anemones or undead.

Given the multiple tentacles of the sea anemone, once a victim was touched, they would be attacked by a group of tentacles, making it impossible to move and leading to death. This meant that the sea anemone couldn't be touched at all, right? If so, it would be an invincible plant monster in close combat. If this were the case, the value of the sea anemone as a source of troops would be unimaginably high!

Ha ha! He had indeed struck gold! Thinking about this, Da Fei's mood improved significantly.

When the last zombie fell, the ballista had only 8 points of health left!

Da Fei immediately dismantled the ballista and packed it away. Who knew if Blood Sea Rampage would recover and come back for revenge?

Wait! He couldn't dismantle it yet! Dismantling the ballista took 10 minutes, and Blood Sea Rampage would also take 10 minutes to recover from his weakened state. Da Fei had been fighting zombies for a while, and if Blood Sea Rampage recovered and came back for revenge while Da Fei was dismantling the ballista, he would be at a disadvantage.

Blood Sea Rampage's actions were very similar to his own from back in the day. If he were in Blood Sea Rampage's position, he would definitely come back for revenge. After all, Da Fei had only won because he leveled up and regained health, and he couldn't level up at will.

Therefore, to be safe, Da Fei pushed the ballista into the cargo hold and aimed it at the stairwell.

Come on, I'm waiting for you!

Time passed minute by minute. After about ten minutes, the sound of hurried footsteps came from above! Oh, right on time! He must have run here just as his weakened state wore off! The timing was perfect, just as Da Fei had expected!

With a thud, Blood Sea Rampage jumped down the stairwell, full of murderous intent.

Da Fei, who had been waiting for a long time, laughed and said, "Hello! Goodbye!"

—Boom! The ballista fired twice, and Blood Sea Rampage turned into white light and disappeared again!

—System Notice: You have maliciously killed a player from the same faction, Blood Sea Rampage. Your reputation has decreased by 50 points!

Damn! Another hit to my reputation, you're tough! Wait, it was 60 points just now, why is it 50 now? That means he must have lost a level when he died! Well, that's not so bad. Ha ha ha!

Now, he could dismantle the ballista.

...

In a luxurious bedroom, Blood Sea Rampage angrily took off his helmet and threw it. "Damn it!"

Smashing the helmet didn't satisfy him, so he kicked and overturned several pieces of furniture. Then he took out his phone, but after dialing, he put it down. This was an online game, not a real-life fight. Calling for help wouldn't do any good, and it was only the first day. His friends were still buying accounts. If he told them he had been killed, it would just be a laughing matter.

In any case, he had to take revenge himself. Once he got the magic book, he wouldn't fear any poison or guns. As for the ballista, it was a big problem, but at least it couldn't fit in the first layer of the cabin, which was still his territory!

He would endure! Level up and kill the boss! Once they formed a studio, they would hunt him down across the entire server!

...

After dismantling the ballista, Da Fei felt a great sense of relief. There should be one more level on the ship, so he decided to check it out.

Da Fei came to the end of the cargo hold and saw water rippling below!

What? Water had entered? So the ship really had a hole and was sinking? What was the point of that?

Wait, there were spare materials and tools on the upper level, and he had obtained a tool axe from the zombie boss. This clearly indicated that the ship needed to be repaired! He would wait until the tide went out and check again. If the tide went out, the water in the bottom hold should also recede.

For now, he would check the upper cabins. He had obtained six room keys from the boss zombies! These zombies must have been high-ranking officials in life, so their rooms might contain valuable items! Ha ha ha!

Da Fei stealthily returned to the top cabin and heard the sound of fighting on the deck outside. Oh, it was Zhi Chi Er Yong leveling up? Just like him back in the day, ha ha!

Da Fei started trying the keys on the first room at the stairwell. With a click, the door opened, and a musty smell hit him. At least there was no smell of decay. Da Fei quietly entered the room.

The room was small, about seven to eight square meters. There wasn't much inside: a single bed, a desk, a chair under the desk, a bookshelf, an item rack, and a wardrobe. It was compact and simple, typical of a ship's cabin.

Da Fei eagerly started searching the bookshelf, and a golden book caught his eye! His eyes widened!

—System Notice: You have obtained the Defense Skill Book. You can spend one skill point to learn the Basic Defense Skill.

—Defense Skill: Reduces the damage taken by the hero and the hero's troops. Each level reduces damage by 10%.

Just as he expected! Da Fei knew that although this newbie village had no mentors or NPCs, it had skill books! Since this room had a skill book, the next room must have one too. With skills, the equipment rewards for newbies should also be there, right? Da Fei started searching the room, determined to find some equipment. He couldn't believe that a high-ranking official wouldn't have any equipment!

A ship's log, an oil lamp, a cup, a steel pen, a poetry novel, a harmonica—what! This zombie was a literary youth!

Oh! Found it!

—Chief Sailor's Ceremonial Uniform: A formal uniform worn by sailors only during official inspections. Formality: 80, Camouflage: 50. Durability: 96/100.

—Formality: The degree of formality of the attire. Low formality prevents interaction with certain NPCs and entry into official buildings and palaces.

—Camouflage: Conceals some of your flaws. Even if you are a rough sailor, wearing it will make you appear slightly more refined.

Da Fei stood there for a while, thinking. Is that it? No defense at all? Damn! What he needed now was heavy armor with high defense! Did this defense-skilled sailor not have any spare heavy armor?

After searching for a long time, Da Fei found nothing else. Sailors didn't wear heavy armor, as it would be fatal if they fell into the sea. Leather armor would also wear out quickly, so there was no hope for armor. If even ordinary equipment was so hard to obtain, strategic items would be even more difficult. He decided to check the other rooms.

Da Fei left the room, locking the door quietly, and stealthily entered the other rooms.

After a day of searching in the game, he found that, besides the annoying ceremonial uniforms, each room contained a different skill book: Attack Skill Book, Logistics Skill Book, Leadership Skill Book, Luck Skill Book, and Archery Skill Book!

Basically, all the combat and adventure skills were there! Including the room he hadn't visited, Makar's room, he expected to find Light Magic Skill Book, Destruction Magic Skill Book, and Arcane Magic Skill Book. In short, everything a new player could learn in the newbie village was here! Apart from the inability to change classes, this place was no different from a regular newbie village. It would teach new players everything they needed to know.

Da Fei looked at the pile of skill books with a sense of helplessness. He no longer felt the initial excitement of discovering the Reconnaissance Skill.

When he had no skills, he desperately wanted books. Now that the books were all here, he was frustrated. What good were so many books? Every player would want to learn all the skills, but they needed skill points to do so! Here, learning a skill required killing a boss, while in a regular newbie village, new players could simply talk to a mentor! This was no gain at all! Did the skill books in their ship logs contain some random skills? Don't mess with me! At least the names of the Chief Sailor Juan and the Chief Gunner Grint were known. The six bosses he had killed didn't even have names, so he didn't believe they had any research projects.

Wait! The captain's room?

These ordinary officials had no equipment or treasures, but the captain, as the ultimate boss, must have some equipment, right? Where was the captain's room? In the upper cabin's bridge? However, the captain's room was very special. It was the private domain of the ship's owner, equivalent to a player's property in the game. Without the owner's authorization, no one could enter. Even if the ship sank and the house was demolished, it couldn't be entered. Private property was sacred and inviolable.

By now, it was getting dark, and the tide was receding again. He decided to check the bottom hold first.

Da Fei returned to the lowest level. As expected, the water that had been rippling during the day was gone, and a salty sea smell hit him. What would be down there? If he encountered a boss, what could he do with an 8-point health ballista? However, since it was underwater, the monsters were likely to be sea creatures.

No matter what, he was here. Da Fei took a deep breath and stealthily entered.

As soon as he entered the bottom hold, a faint red glow appeared in the darkness. Da Fei was startled. It was... the old friend, the Sea Anemone!

To be continued...

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