Absolute Destiny Game
Chapter 135 - 13: Another Strange Encounter

Chapter 135: Chapter 13: Another Strange Encounter

The surroundings of Luoyang Town were a stretch of open land that had been cleared of trees, with low-growing weeds and a broad view, probably made so for the town’s security.

A moat encircled the town, flowing towards the southeast, its ultimate destination unknown.

The two of them didn’t delve too deep and didn’t even dismount as they ambled around the edge of the forest on the empty grassland.

Better not to venture too deep if it’s not necessary.

They hadn’t gone far when they spotted a giant wild boar.

"It’s a wild boar! Get ready—shoot!"

The two started shooting from horseback right away.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, Xiao Jie unleashed a Continuous Arrow, hitting with all four arrows. The wild boar howled and charged forward, while Xiao Jie rode away and shot back at the same time.

Whoosh—Whoosh—Whoosh!

Every arrow he shot hit its mark.

Hahaha, riding and chopping down monsters wasn’t a waste at all, this mounted shooting technique is just too practical against wild monsters.

I Want to Be Immortal also fired two arrows in quick succession, but they went god knows where, lacking the Steady Shooting skill and never having tried mounted shooting, he had no way to aim properly.

"No good, Brother Feng, killing monsters like this is too slow, I’ll just go down and fight on foot," he said and leapt off the horse, charging at the wild boar with a large axe in hand.

Xiao Jie had no choice but to turn his horse around and charge in as well.

From seven or eight meters away, the wild boar launched a charge.

Charge! With a thud, it hit I Want to Be Immortal, sending him staggering back, though it didn’t knock him stiff.

"Die!"

With a swing of his axe, I Want to Be Immortal brought the boar down with a muffled groan, flat on the ground. The Master of Giant Weapons’ skill at reducing resilience was truly shocking, even the wild boar couldn’t withstand a charged blow.

Xiao Jie abruptly accelerated, swinging his blade from the side in a smooth motion.

Swipe! The blade cut a bloody swath along the boar’s flank.

-47! (Speed damage bonus 89%)

Awesome!

This was just during a cavalry charge, if it had been with a Riding Spear, the damage could probably have exceeded a hundred.

Thinking about it, should I buy a long spear to try later? Nah, better not get ahead of myself. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I can only improve my weapon skill level by sticking to one martial art.

No sooner had the wild boar gotten up than I Want to Be Immortal landed another axe attack, and down it went again.

The two of them finished off the large wild boar in just a moment, skinning it and butchering the meat with thorough efficiency, making full use of their spoils.

Xiao Jie took a look at I Want to Be Immortal, thinking it was time he dismounted and practiced as well.

The two of them continued along the edge of the forest.

Wild beasts are generally easy to defeat, as most are solitary creatures with low intelligence. In a two-against-one scenario, there was no real danger.

But there were too few of them; if they didn’t go deeper, they hardly encountered any monsters at all. After over an hour of grinding, they had only killed four wild boars, three wolves, and one leopard.

That’s not going to work, Xiao Jie lamented, having earned only 2% of Experience Points in half a day. At this rate, reaching Level 13 would take an eternity.

What’s more infuriating was that Luobo stayed well out of the fray during the fight, refusing to take part at all.

Xiao Jie was somewhat speechless. This horse was fine as a mount, but as a pet, it was somewhat lacking. Once he learned the skills and acquired a mount, he would definitely replace it someday.

"Luobo, let’s discuss something, how about teaching me your Galloping and kicking skills?"

"Neigh, neigh, I won’t teach you! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. If I teach you, you’ll send me away."

"Would I do that?"

"Neigh, neigh, what about that wild boar?"

"Ah... Meiqiu, it just wanted to go home, begging me to let it go. I’m the kindest person around. Despite my reluctance, I had to let it go. See how nice I am."

"Neigh, neigh, I don’t believe you!"

Damn, this horse is actually pretty smart.

Xiao Jie glanced at the Loyalty... 73, not bad, at 80 he could start learning.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the woods ahead, accompanied by the sound of breaking branches.

"Brother Feng, looks like there’s a big monster!"

Xiao Jie noticed it too.

"Quick, get on the horse!"

No sooner had they mounted than a bear, about four or five meters in length, burst out of the forest.

Furious Giant Bear: Level 15, Life Value 321/1000!

The bear was covered in arrows and wounds, a pitiful sight.

Soon a group of players followed in hot pursuit.

"Kill it!"

"Don’t let it get away!"

"Shoot, shoot, shoot!"

It was a group of over ten players, noisily chasing after the giant bear with several dogs barking loud and clear, creating an impressive scene.

Xiao Jie was taken aback. Holy cow, so many people?

This must be the human wave tactic that Mr. Ramen mentioned. Truly terrifying.

The giant bear seemed to be an Elite Monster and was being chased to the point where it had no option but to flee.

Seeing the two of them, the bear didn’t attack but turned tail and ran instead.

But it was surrounded on three sides by players and had no chance to escape. It was greeted with a flurry of spears and arrows, roaring in agony before collapsing to the ground.

Immediately, five or six players with skinning knives rushed over to butcher and skin it.

The leader was a Level 20 Swordsman named Cloud Guest, who rode up to greet them.

"Gentlemen, the forest around Luoyang Town has been claimed by our World Association, so please step aside."

"I Want to Be Immortal couldn’t help but retort indignantly,"Why should I?"

"Heh, it’s because my big brother is Xiong Batian, a Level 28 Qi Gong Master. Not convinced? Be careful, or I’ll turn red and wipe you both out." The man started with a courteous comment but then immediately revealed his true nature.

"Immortal, stop talking. Let’s go."

"Haha, that’s more like it. We, the World Association, are not about bullying others with our power, but this area has already been claimed by us—first come, first served. Our friends here can level up somewhere else just the same, right? Of course, if you both wish to join the World Association, we wouldn’t mind sharing the Experience Points together."

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks."

Xiao Jie said and immediately spurred his horse to leave.

I Want to Be Immortal had no choice but to follow.

Though the game has restrictions against having a red name, especially since we were close to town, there was no benefit to be had fighting so many people. They could just shoot arrows en masse, and we couldn’t withstand it. A wise man does not stand under a wall that is about to collapse; it’s better to avoid conflict for the time being.

Xiao Jie had seen this kind of behavior from big guilds claiming territories and monopolizing monsters many times before. In the game, power dictates the rules, and when you need to yield, you yield.

Moreover, leveling up here is indeed a bit slow; it’s not very fun competing for monsters with so many people.

It would be better to look elsewhere.

"So what do we do now?"

"No worries, let’s head a bit further away. You have a map, don’t you? We can follow the map to find an appropriate leveling point—it shouldn’t be too hard."

The reason these people stick close to the town is that the woods around Luoyang Town are probably the safest areas to level up. But, considering the entire Luoyang Plain has, at most, a few hundred players, and the game map is so vast, with large areas to explore, we will definitely find a suitable place to level up.

For most players, though, the cost of opening a map is too high, so they’d rather level up slower while staying near town for safety.

However, for the two who had a map, it wasn’t a difficult task.

"Take a picture of the Luoyang Plain map and send it to me."

"Okay."

Moments later, Xiao Jie received the photo on his phone.

He enlarged the photo on his computer and carefully observed the details of the map. Not everything was explored; there were large uncharted territories, especially regions where powerful monsters roamed.

Those must be the areas controlled by forces like Black Wind Mountain bandits and the Wolf Demons of the Hundred Wolves Cave.

But a sizeable portion of the map had been revealed, particularly around Luoyang Town. One could clearly see the distribution of wilderness, forests, and villages.

Major villages were occupied by mountain bandits, and forests with poor visibility were prone to elite beasts encounters. The wilderness was the most suitable place for leveling, but monsters there were too sparse, sometimes not a single one for half a day.

Huh—this place looks pretty good.

It was a wheat field by the riverside, and the map showed no trees or markers for monster forces there, so there would likely be only scattered wildlife.

It wasn’t a village, just a small building marker; it probably was a standalone dwelling similar to the Tian Family Mansion.

Such a place wouldn’t have large groups of monsters; it was just right for the two of them.

"Let’s go, follow me!" Xiao Jie checked the map and headed east.

To be safe, the two followed the main road for a while until they felt they were close to their destination, then they turned south.

After traveling across the wilderness and sparse woodlands for a few minutes, a river appeared before them, and across the river was the wheat field. Indeed, the trees were sparse, with mostly grasslands and a few abandoned dwellings—such sights were quite common on Luoyang Plain. There was even a patch of wheat field visible.

This type of map is perfect for leveling.

"Let’s cross the river,"

The river looked quite deep, and Xiao Jie remembered the incident with the merfolk water ghost. Despite the clear waters and no visible monsters, it was best to still be cautious. He planned to just use Grass Flying to dash across in one go.

At this moment, I Want to Be Immortal hesitated, "Feng, I don’t know if I can swim?"

"Swim? Can’t you just—damn, I remember now, you learned Eight Steps to Catch a Cicada and Sudden Increase, right?"

Xiao Jie thought crap, now we’re in trouble, neither of those skills he learned can cross terrains... But it shouldn’t be a big problem.

I Want to Be Immortal said, "How about we swim across?"

"No way, too dangerous. Let’s walk ahead and see if there’s a bridge," Xiao Jie suggested as he glanced at the map, where there was a mark like a black line ahead of the river, but he wasn’t sure if it was a bridge.

Not long after they walked forward, they indeed found a bridge, quite shabby looking, a wobbly log bridge supported with a few wooden stumps, and two rounded logs put together counting as a bridge.

No wonder the drawing on the map was so blurry.

But at least it was passable for people.

"I’ll go first, you take off your armor before you cross the bridge. The physical engine of this game is so realistic, if you fall into the river and sink, that would be bad, Luobo—up!"

This scaredy-cat doesn’t dare to go up for a fight, but scouting across a river should be fine, right?

Though reluctant, Luobo could only flounder into the river and swim towards the other side following its master’s command.

Luckily, there were no attacks, and it made it straight across the river.

Xiao Jie walked a few steps into the water and discovered that players’ characters can swim. Not bad, at least he wouldn’t drown if he fell into the river.

However, to be cautious, he still retreated back to the shore.

Grass Flying! He activated his qinggong and dashed straight towards the other side.

Splish-splashing his way, he directly ran over the water’s surface. As he neared the bank, he also performed an aerial flip, landing comfortably on a rock by the shore.

Stylish!

However, I Want to Be Immortal gingerly stepped onto the bridge and walked towards the other side of the river.

When he reached the middle of the river, there was a sudden plop and a splash, as if something had fallen into the water.

Xiao Jie was baffled, what’s going on? I Want to Be Immortal hadn’t fallen in.

Once I Want to Be Immortal crossed the river, Xiao Jie quickly asked, "What just happened?"

I Want to Be Immortal said frantically, "Feng, it’s not good, my axe fell into the river!"

What? Xiao Jie was taken aback, wondering if I Want to Be Immortal was joking, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, the system notification said my axe accidentally slipped out of my bag and fell into the river..."

"It slipped out of your backpack?" Xiao Jie confirmed again.

"Yes, it slipped out of the backpack," I Want to Be Immortal said with a tone full of grievance.

However, Xiao Jie’s eyes lit up, "Damn, you’ve encountered an adventure, haven’t you?"