The Lone Wolf’s Observation

Ye Jue added Lin Shenyue to the party at the designated meeting point.

“Chris,” he inquired, “have you ever learned any warrior techniques from your father?”

Unlike players who could instantly acquire skills from a class mentor, NPCs honed their abilities through years of accumulated experience.

Chris replied, “I only learned some fundamentals from my father.”

Ye Jue’s brow furrowed slightly. “In that case,” he said with a hint of resignation, “you should come with me to see the warrior mentor first.”

With that, he led both of them toward their destination.

****

The trio entered the Warrior Guild.

Lin Shenyue gazed around the interior with a curious expression. Having been directly sent to her class advancement dungeon by the Vermilion Bird upon her arrival in Vermilion Bird City, she had never needed to visit any of the various class guilds before.

Chris, on the other hand, paused for a moment before walking in with a completely blank face.

The guild hall was already bustling with numerous players, particularly crowded around the warrior mentors.

Fortunately, the system had ingeniously created countless small, instanced spaces for such NPCs. Upon a player’s approach, they would automatically be teleported into a private dimension containing only themselves and the NPC, thus eliminating the need for queues.

Lin Shenyue sensed a shift in Chris’s emotions. It occurred to her that Chris’s father was a warrior, and seemingly a powerful one at that, which meant he must have brought Chris here before and known some of the people.

Since the two were already in a party, and Chris was automatically included, all three were instantly transported into the same small space.

The warrior mentor, upon seeing Chris, momentarily froze. “Chris,” he said, “why have you come with others, and alone? Where is your father?”

Chris replied with a touch of sorrow, “My father… he passed away.”

The mentor’s expression changed. “How can that be? Your father was so strong!”

Chris fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly, “It was the Demon Race. They laid down a formation, and Father died protecting me.”

Frowning, the warrior mentor asked, “The Demon Race again? What exactly are they trying to achieve?” He then looked at Chris. “Have you come here to learn skills?”

Chris nodded, her voice tinged with hatred. “I want to avenge my father.”

The warrior mentor’s frown deepened, his tone serious. “Chris, I do not wish for you to become a warrior solely driven by hatred.”

What the warrior mentor left unsaid was that hatred alone could easily lead one down a demonic path. Unlike players, who were merely data and thus immune to such corruption, NPCs were treated as real individuals within the game. While their health and attack power were digitized, they could still suffer from various negative emotional states.

Chris took a deep breath, calming herself. “I am not merely driven by hatred; I am also driven by a desire to protect.”

The warrior mentor seemed surprised. “Oh? If that is the case, then I might be able to teach you. It simply depends on how much you can learn.”

Chris nodded, then turned to Lin Shenyue. “Sister, you and your friend should go ahead. I will find you once I have mastered my skills.”

Lin Shenyue offered a gentle smile. “Then you must do your best.”

****

After bidding farewell to Chris, Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue made their way to the city gates. Ye Jue sent a message to Divine Wind, then waited patiently.

Before long, Divine Wind arrived with another person. He introduced them. “This is Dark Demon, a friend of mine in real life.”

Ye Jue was momentarily startled, his gaze intently fixed on the newcomer. Dark Demon was an ordinary-looking man, the kind who would easily blend into any crowd, unnoticed.

What stunned Ye Jue was not Dark Demon’s appearance, but the fact that he was one of the most renowned lone wolves in the previous life, ranking fifth among assassins.

Furthermore, the name Dark Demon had been celebrated in several earlier games. Once, the guild master of a mid-sized guild deliberately killed one of Dark Demon’s friends, then brazenly declared he would kill him until he quit the game.

Dark Demon relentlessly hunted that guild master, killing him more than ten times. Even with numerous guild members protecting him, the guild master couldn’t safely leave the city. Eventually, he was forced to issue a public apology to gain Dark Demon’s forgiveness.

Dark Demon’s reputation soared from that encounter. Throughout the entire series of assassinations, he never once died, making it a legendary feat of stealth and skill.

Lin Shenyue saw Ye Jue lost in thought again and had no choice but to step forward on his behalf. “Hello,” she said, “I’m Yue’er, and this is Peerless Karma Fire.”

Dark Demon had already heard Divine Wind mention the team members, but he was still taken aback upon seeing Lin Shenyue. However, as an experienced gamer, he quickly composed himself and calmly said, “Dark Demon. Please guide me.”

Upon hearing their conversation, Ye Jue also snapped out of his reverie. He chuckled, “Welcome to my team.”

Dark Demon, however, declined. “It’s not quite joining yet. I’m merely here at Divine Wind’s invitation to observe.”

Divine Wind looked somewhat helpless and messaged Ye Jue privately: [My friend is rather proud. If you can impress him with your skill, he will definitely join.]

Ye Jue nodded to Divine Wind, indicating he understood. Then he turned to Dark Demon. “Regardless, for now, we are teammates. Let’s tackle a quest together.”

With that, he sent invitations to both of them.

With their addition, the team’s previous weakness in output capability was greatly bolstered. They would no longer be utterly defenseless when encountering smaller enemy parties, unlike their last unfortunate encounter.

Dark Demon was a Shadow Assassin. An assassin’s initial skill was Backstab, which was more akin to a passive ability.

This skill would automatically activate when attacking a target from behind, boasting a short one-second cooldown and increasing attack damage by 30%.

At level five, assassins learned Throat Slash. This skill had stringent activation conditions: if the attack failed to strike the target’s throat, the skill would be deemed a failure and immediately enter cooldown. However, its damage was substantial, boosting attack damage by 100%, with a cooldown of 15 seconds.

At level 10, Shadow Assassins learned their core class skill: Stealth. It could be activated three seconds after leaving combat, allowing them to enter a stealth state within 0.5 seconds, though any attack would interrupt it. Movement speed was reduced by 20% while stealthed, and the cooldown was 30 seconds.

They also learned another skill: Sap. This required being behind the target and successfully striking their head to activate. A successful Sap would stun the target for one second, with a cooldown of 45 seconds.

Assassin skills consumed ‘Killing Points’. Backstab cost one Killing Point, while Throat Slash consumed two. However, non-combat skills like Sap and Stealth did not require Killing Points.

An excellent assassin had to learn to use the right skill at the right time, a factor that became especially crucial in the late game. Furthermore, because assassins needed to accumulate Killing Points through normal attacks, they had to weave basic attacks between their skills. The technique of resetting attacks that Ye Jue used was originally an assassin invention.

After a brief introduction of their individual capabilities, Ye Jue couldn’t help but marvel at the renowned lone wolves of his past life. Both Divine Wind and Dark Demon boasted an impressive 190 attack points, a formidable statistic for level 10 players.

Ye Jue pondered for a moment. “Since Dark Demon wants to assess our abilities, let’s choose a challenging quest.”

His gaze fell upon the forest from which the undead emerged. The undead were under orders to attack human cities and only retaliated when attacked, so the monsters within the forest were still alive. Since these forest monsters had no interest in the undead and would swarm them even after countless kills, the undead had simply ceased bothering with them.

Ye Jue’s target was the Level 13 BOSS deep within the forest: the Night Wolf King.

****

Meanwhile, players who first checked the auction house discovered two silver-grade pet cubs, instantly sparking a fierce bidding war.