Chapter 9

The two novice wanderers were both killed by Cai Zige's [Magic Missile], leaving only Cai Zige to deal with Alpha. However, Alpha knew that no matter what, he couldn't defeat this arrogant, foul-mouthed, and somewhat foolish Cai Zige. After all, the level and class gap couldn't be ignored. Without suitable skills for his class, a level 10 Alpha had no chance of defeating a level 16+ Cai Zige.

— Taking out the two novices with Cai Zige's help was already the limit.

The two novices didn't attack Alpha, and Alpha didn't want to kill them himself and gain PK points. Carrying PK points not only affected his good alignment but also brought various punishments, such as being hunted by Paladins.

Now, only Cai Zige was left. Alpha glanced at the dim cave entrance where Corpsefire resided, then suddenly sprinted towards Cai Zige again.

This move startled Cai Zige, who couldn't understand what this guy was up to. Did he really want to close in and fight to the death?

Cai Zige sneered, thinking, "A Paladin won't be taken down by the same trick twice." For a moment, he felt a bit like a little cockroach. He then raised his hand, and a cone-shaped burst of intense flame shot out from his fingertips, hurtling towards Alpha.

"[Burning Hand]!!!"

The onlookers couldn't help but exclaim. This was the most powerful Evocation spell among 1st-level spells!

[Burning Hand: 1st-level Evocation. A cone-shaped burst of scorching flame erupts from the fingertips, burning all creatures in the area.

Damage: (77-103) + base spell attack power × (200 + spell level × 40)%

Casting Time: None

Range: 0-7 yards

Mana Cost: 53

Component: Sulfur Powder]

The damage from [Burning Hand] was already quite high, and with the terrifying boost from a level 16-17 full-intelligence mage, a single [Burning Hand] could deal over 100 or even 200 points of damage. Alpha, with 245 HP, couldn't withstand two hits.

Alpha, charging straight at Cai Zige, had no way to dodge this [Burning Hand].

In fact, Alpha didn't try to dodge. After enduring the intense flames, he managed to stab Cai Zige's left leg hard. This stab made Cai Zige stagger, almost falling to the ground, but it only dealt 8 points of damage. Compared to Alpha's 181 points of damage and 41 HP remaining, Cai Zige could be considered the clear winner.

"Looking for death?"

"Maybe, he's almost dead, but that's impressive, a level 10 mage withstood a [Burning Hand] and didn't die!!!"

"Yeah, don't know his Constitution, but he's really tough."

...

...

The onlookers whispered among themselves, and Cai Zige was also surprised that this guy could withstand a [Burning Hand] and still not die.

Alpha, however, had no time to argue. His goal was the inner cave, Corpsefire's lair. That's why he risked taking a [Burning Hand] to get behind Cai Zige, who was facing the entrance to the inner cave.

With a quick dash, Alpha entered the inner cave and found that Corpsefire had respawned.

For players, Corpsefire respawned every 15 minutes, but for Corpsefire and his minions, they had actually rested in hell for a whole day. Time flowed differently in different planes, so 15 minutes in the game was another workday for Corpsefire.

"...?"

Having heard the sounds of battle outside, Corpsefire didn't dare chat with Alpha. After all, he was the big villain in the eyes of players and shouldn't flirt or chat with a player... oh, no, talk about the weather?

"Take out the guy who comes in next!!!"

Alpha threw a pack of "Dragon Breath" to Corpsefire and whispered. Corpsefire caught the pack nimbly and roared excitedly. Alpha understood that in Infernal, this meant "Looking forward to it," or in Beijing dialect, "Just wait and see."

Corpsefire waved his hand, and a group of minions formed a fan-shaped blockade at the entrance to the inner cave. The next second, a deep red figure appeared at the entrance.

"Damn, where are you running, little bastard, I'll kill you today... Holy shit!!!"

By the time Cai Zige realized he was greeted by three Lesser Demon Mages' fireballs and Corpsefire's ice-blue glowing zombie claws, it was too late to run back.

— Three ordinary Devil Zombies had blocked his path of retreat...

...

...

The scene shifted from the dark cave to the sunny Elven Forest, and Alpha breathed a sigh of relief. Cai Zige should be playing Landlord with his two wanderer buddies in the Resurrection Temple by now.

At the critical moment, Corpsefire proved reliable, trapping Cai Zige and allowing Alpha, who had only 41 HP left, to escape. Otherwise, who knew what spell Cai Zige would use to finish him off, [Magic Missile]? [Ice Dagger]? Or another [Burning Hand]?

At least he didn't have to go to the Resurrection Temple, which was a good thing.

However, Alpha deeply felt the importance of class for players. Even if he could wear a longsword in one hand and a crossbow in the other to grind Corpsefire, he was no match for a player with a variety of skills and spells. Even a level 10+ Cai Zige could easily take him down.

No matter how good the initial attributes were, they needed to be supported by powerful class abilities. The desire to obtain a hidden class grew stronger.

Just as he was pondering, a "ding" sounded in his mind:

"Big Loser, you're level 10? Don't waste your free attribute point!!!"

In a private message, a friend named "Lancelot" sent a message. In fact, Lancelot was Alpha's only friend in the game.

Yes, this only friend was none other than his college buddy, the bald Li, in real life.

The self-proclaimed suave bald Li played a Paladin, level 45, ranking in the top 5000 players of the Silver Moon Alliance, a skilled player. Not just in the Silver Moon Alliance, but in the entire "Dungeons & Dragons" game, he was a well-known Paladin.

The Paladin class was special, generally summarized as stylish, powerful, and busy:

Stylish, of course, referred to the appearance. The handsome gear was a given, and the Paladin's initial equipment was standard issue from the church, shiny and very cool.

Therefore, the Paladin class consistently topped the player survey for the best-looking class in the game.

When Alpha first met Lancelot in the game, he was indeed a walking clothes hanger.

Bald Li was already quite handsome, and with the shiny standard-issue armor and a cool two-handed sword, he had a good head-turning rate.

As for powerful, it referred to the Paladin's combat capabilities.

The powerful church spells gave Paladins a significant advantage in battles, especially against evil creatures. Skills like [Smite Evil] and [Detect Evil] were all headache-inducing for enemies.

Finally, being busy was related to the Paladin's powerful combat abilities.

Paladins were the church's enforcers in the world, judging and punishing all evil. Not just evil monsters, but even players who joined the evil alignment had to be careful.

Paladins could kill targets deemed evil without any consequences. After using [Detect Evil], a spell to determine if a target's actions were evil, Paladins had terrifying bonuses in their attacks.

Therefore, when Paladins saw players engaging in evil behavior, they would usually cast [Detect Evil] before taking action.

This made Paladins very busy, as they would cast [Detect Evil] on anyone with issues and then righteously bully them.

Many actions could be defined as evil by [Detect Evil], such as attacking other players within 24 hours, using the Thieves' skills, or using [Bluff] on some good-aligned NPCs.

— They managed everything, what else could be called busy?

Of course, following the principle that greater power comes with greater responsibility, it was clear that not everyone could become a Paladin.

Players couldn't just choose the Paladin class at the start of the game. They had to join the Lawful Good alignment to receive the protection of the Holy Light and then complete the challenging and lengthy Paladin quest to officially become a Paladin. Otherwise, they had to choose another class.

The game developers claimed that the lengthy quest was to test the Paladin's integrity.

In fact, Lancelot, ranked in the top 50 Paladins of the Silver Moon Alliance, was only around 5000th in the overall player rankings due to the lengthy quest.

Of course, for Alpha, how the perverted Lancelot managed to deceive the church NPCs and the god Heironious was a very intriguing question.

How could they think Lancelot was a brave young man who would help old ladies cross the street and escort women with children home at night?

Based on Alpha's understanding of Lancelot, he was a thoroughly evil creature without even needing [Detect Evil].

Well, let's not continue to mock Alpha's only game friend.

— It seemed Lancelot had noticed Alpha's level change to 10 and sent a private message to check in.