Chapter 1

When Rodi finally managed to open his eyes, the blinding sunlight made him feel dizzy for a moment.

The burning pain in his chest felt as if a torch was pressing against it, and the buzzing in his ears was like the aftereffect of being hit on the head with a stick. The pain hit him, making him groan involuntarily. The simulation effects of the online game "Rift" were almost 100%, including all tactile and pain sensations. However, at this moment, Rodi felt as if someone had adjusted the "pain" setting from the safe 30% to 100%. He had never felt this much pain in all the time he had played "Rift."

Taking a few deep breaths, Rodi blinked and habitually looked around. To his surprise, he found that he was not at the military base cemetery resurrection point, three kilometers behind the battlefield in the game.

Something was wrong...

Raising his hand, he discovered that the epic shortbow he had been holding was nowhere to be seen—nor were the gloves, wrist guards, and arm guards known as the "Hill's Protection" set. His waist was empty; the dual blades were not there.

What was going on?

He broke out in a cold sweat. The equipment in the full-simulation online game "Rift" was soul-bound and required identity verification even to destroy. So, in this situation, where had his expensive equipment gone?

Wiping his chest, Rodi gasped in pain. The fresh red blood on his fingers told him he was injured. Struggling to turn over, Rodi wanted to confirm where he had resurrected...

But then, he opened his mouth in shock.

Before him stretched an endless expanse of grass, green as far as the eye could see, and he was lying on the top of a small hill. Rodi suddenly realized that this place was incredibly similar to the Naxemia Great Grassland in his memory—yet, it was a thousand miles away from the "Slav Valley Battlefield" where he had just died. How had he gotten here?

Still groggy from just waking up, Rodi's mind was slow to react, but his confusion was quickly interrupted by a loud shout.

"Kill them!"

A voice in the unique Sabine language of the orcs made Rodi's heart leap. He instinctively crouched down, suppressing the pain and looking to the other side.

The scent of fresh grass mixed with the smell of blood. Rodi rubbed his eyes and moved his body, finally seeing the scene below the hill—just a short distance from Rodi, there were several dead warhorses and three human corpses lying on the grass!

The one who had shouted was a tall orc, less than thirty meters away. This orc was nearly two meters tall, with arms as thick as human thighs, and his strong muscles seemed to contain boundless power. His eyes were red and wild as he charged with four other orcs towards seven human soldiers who were fleeing.

Orcs...

Rodi's brows furrowed, and his previously confused expression turned dark.

An ordinary person who had never played "Rift" might not understand why Rodi was so angry at this moment—but for a game otaku who had invested all his energy into the game for seven years, the word "orc" represented only one thing: mortal enemy.

The orcs in "Rift" were unforgivable enemies to Rodi, who belonged to the human faction. In the seven years of the game, these damned beasts had invaded almost the entire kingdom, burning down almost all the towns Rodi had once lived in. More importantly, the girl he loved had also died at the hands of the orcs...

Although he didn't understand how he had suddenly appeared on a distant grassland, the only thought that came to his mind at this moment was simple and direct: kill them.

Rodi's profession was "Ranger," and his skills in environmental reconnaissance were unparalleled. After taking a deep breath, he immediately assessed his current situation. It seemed he had just been attacked by orcs—this made sense, as he had also been attacked by orcs before he died. However, he now realized...

These orcs were not the same as those in Slav Valley.

The orcs in Slav Valley were the elite of the orc empire "Hammer of Rohal," clad in heavy armor like steel fortresses, with terrifying levels, health, and defense. But these orcs, while similar in appearance, wore ragged loincloths and wielded crude wooden clubs studded with iron nails, not the one-meter-two-long steel hammers.

The seven human soldiers fleeing in the distance were not players with flashy equipment or rebel army warriors in standardized steel armor. Their simple leather armor and weapons looked more like those of the lowest-ranking private soldiers...

Scouts?

"Damn it!" Rodi cursed, influenced by his former roommate from Sichuan. As a native of the capital, he often used Sichuanese curses. Looking at his current equipment, he sighed—this tattered leather armor matched the scouts who looked like stray dogs...

The scene before him brought countless thoughts to his mind, but he eventually settled on the only reasonable explanation: this was a random dungeon in the game, and he had been inexplicably drawn into it, needing to complete the dungeon's objectives as a temporarily appearing scout.

However, he then realized that he couldn't see the health bars above the enemies' heads, the cooldown timers of the skill bars, or any buffs or combat stances. He couldn't even bring up the quest log!

A bug?

He was momentarily stunned.

In simple terms, Rodi was a game otaku... but more specifically, he was the kind of technical otaku often jokingly referred to as "saving the world."

He could complete "Contra" without killing anyone, clear all "God of War" games on the highest difficulty without taking damage, achieve full combos on eight-key 14-level songs in "DJMAX," complete "Super Mario" in nine minutes with a single life, and even take down the plane boss in "Metal Gear Solid 2" with a pistol instead of a rocket launcher.

These feats were almost impossible for ordinary people, but for Rodi, they were not difficult.

If he decided to do something, he would do it to the best of his ability.

This obsessive personality was the reason Rodi had become one of the top players in "Rift." After confirming his situation, all his thoughts began to revolve around the premise of "perfectly completing the dungeon objective."

Dying and respawning in the city? For a technical otaku, that would be an insult.

Killing all the orcs and rescuing as many scouts as possible—Rodi quickly made his judgment based on his current identity and the situation, aiming for the "perfect completion" of this "dungeon."

Taking a deep breath, he rolled over and lay flat, reaching out to bandage his chest wound with a strip of cloth. He then looked around, starting to plan his next move.

No skill bars, weak body, and excruciating pain in his left knee and chest, likely from falling off a horse. He rubbed his forehead, feeling something was off, but the urgency of the situation quickly pushed aside his doubts.

Scanning the area, Rodi, the "Ranger" in the game, quickly formulated his plan. After confirming that the orcs had not noticed him, he held his breath and crawled towards the nearest human corpse.

In the distance, not only were five orcs chasing the fleeing soldiers, but a thinner orc was also wielding a bull horn warbow, sniping the human soldiers fleeing thirty meters away.

"Twang—"

The sound of the bowstring was significant. Rodi knew orcs didn't have the habit of attaching silencers or dampeners to their bows. Their tactical skills were as rough as their appearance, with their only advantage being their strength.

This orc had just shot an arrow through the chest of a distant scout, the blood spraying out as the force of the arrow carried the scout's body to the ground, killing him instantly...

Seeing this, Rodi, who hated orcs to the point of grinding his teeth, made his decision.

Gritting his teeth, he crawled to the nearest human corpse, reached out, and pulled the wooden shortbow that had fallen to the ground. Feeling the bow, Rodi knew it was a mass-produced product from a border bowyer, with low draw strength, suitable only for ambushes. In a pitched battle, this toy-like white equipment would be almost useless.

In the game, attack power and draw weight were closely related, but due to additional attributes, a high-tier bow with the same draw weight of sixty pounds could be dozens of times more powerful than a low-tier one. The low-tier wooden shortbow in his hand was essentially beginner equipment.

But the simplicity of the weapon could not be an excuse for failing the mission—Rodi was who he was, one of the powerful rangers in "Rift." As a technical otaku, what he could do was beyond the reach of most people.

For example... his archery skills, which were so accurate that they didn't even need system corrections.

Using his foot to hook the quiver lying nearby, Rodi didn't put it on his back but held the remaining eight arrows in his left hand, drew the bow with his right, and began to carefully observe all the enemies around him—

The nearest bow-wielding orc was 27 meters away, and the five distant orcs were between 35 and 46 meters away.

Four human soldiers were still fleeing, and another unfortunate one was caught and hacked to pieces by the orcs.

A gentle breeze blew, lifting the hair on Rodi's forehead.

He squinted, glanced at the trembling grass, and made the necessary adjustments for the wind's effect on the arrow. The orc 27 meters away, completely focused on aiming, had not noticed any movement behind him.

Taking a deep breath, Rodi suddenly stood up—his left hand extended to draw the bow, his little finger and ring finger holding seven arrows, his right hand drawing the arrow and pulling the bow, the string forming a full moon, and he aimed at the enemy with perfect fluidity.

A seasoned scout would need at least two seconds to complete the series of actions: "draw arrow, nock arrow, draw bow, aim, release." But for Rodi, years of being a ranger had made these actions almost instinctive. From the moment he rose from his crouched position, he had already completed the entire shooting sequence. As the orc 27 meters away released his arrow, Rodi had already completed the final step—

Release.

The bowstring "twanged," and the arrow shot out.

"Thud!"

The arrow pierced the orc's neck, emerging from his mouth, and he fell to the ground, clutching his throat, unable to even cry out.

The sound of cold weapons killing was not as loud as that of firearms, so the five distant orcs did not notice what had happened behind them. More incredibly, as the first orc fell, Rodi's next arrow was already on its way!

With a 1.2-second interval, Rodi used his left hand to hold the bow and the arrows, a simple and practical "rapid fire" technique. Most people would reach behind to their quiver to draw an arrow, but Rodi's method saved this step, making his shooting speed far beyond the limits of ordinary people.

"Thud!"

The arrow struck an orc's thigh, causing him to roll on the ground, screaming in pain.

Rodi knew he was using an unfamiliar shortbow, and the straightness and consistency of the arrows could not be guaranteed. To ensure killing efficiency, facing enemies 37 meters away, Rodi, who had killed thousands of orcs in the game, knew how to minimize the cost of taking them down.

The sound of the bowstring pulling was continuous, and the arrows hit with terrifying accuracy, leaving four of the five orcs lying on the ground, all with arrows in their thighs, groaning in pain.