Chapter 10: Unscathed
“Food tastes best when you don’t have to work for it.” – Hikigaya Hachiman.
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I hated translating it.
“Okay then…” Ling Chen helplessly twitched his lips, not stopping, walking further into the map. Right at that time, not far to his right, a buck-toothed-rabbit that was clearly bigger than a regular rabbit appeared in a flash of white light, carrying a giant carrot on its shoulder.
The noisy crowd of people immediately exploded.
“Elite!! It’s a 1 star elite monster!!”
“Holy crap! It’s an elite monster! An elite monster that can add SP!!”
The player’s around the area acted as though they were injected with chicken blood all rushing towards the elite buck-toothed-rabbit. The poor elite rabbit was drowned in the blink of an eye, and then the next second… without the chance to even swing his big carrot, became a bunch of rabbit fur like the other regular rabbits… even giving a half-eaten carrot on the side.
“I got it, I got it!!” A player that was determined to have killed the elite rabbit and gaining 1 SP, danced around crying out, excited as if he’d won the 5 million jackpot.
“Fuck! Why’re you so goddamn arrogant… Go, burst him!!” (TL: In terms of the bursting, it’s a term used in games to say kill them and also a slang term for attack/kill. They also say stuff like “Burst his equipment” meaning killing them and making them drop their equipment on death. Not sure how I’ll translate this in the future. Suggestions welcome.)
The red-eyed players swarmed forward, after a scream the player who only showed-off for 5 seconds fell to the ground, turning into a beam of white light returning to the Novice Village.
Seeing this massive group, Ling Chen didn’t know when he would be able to complete the quest of collecting rabbit teeth. Not stopping anymore, he walked further in.
After the buck-toothed-rabbit’s territory, is the territory of the LV2 monster black horned sheep. This place was also packed full with players. After that, is the territory of the LV3 creature civet cat. The numbers of players here noticeably decreased a lot. Leveling in 《Mystic Moon》 is relatively hard, even from LV0 to LV1, it can’t be done without a hour or so. Ling Chen stopped, looking towards the civet cat’s stats:
Angry Civet Cat: Type: Beast, Level: 3, HP: 100. Civet cats get angry too, you need to be careful of being bitten or clawed by it.
Ling Chen: “…”
The player’s that come here are all because they have no choice, after all the amount of people at the black horned sheep and buck-toothed-rabbits was simply too great. All the players here moved in groups, besides Ling Chen, almost nobody was soloing.
Lifting his sword, Ling Chen faced the closest civet cat and stabbed towards it, after an overly strong wind, the civet cat was hit.
-18.
Being attacked the civet cat became furious, charging towards Ling Chen while making weird noises, using its pointy front claw to claw at him. Ling Chen’s body slightly moved back, the civet’s cat’s attack missing, a fierce sword wind once again attacking it…
“Full Powered Strike!”
-23.
Ling Chen landed his only attack skill, pushing the civet cat back a small step. The civet cat immediately charged forward fiercely, waving its claws lunging towards him. Ling Chen easily dodged, another sword blow landing on the civet cat, making its body that was still in mid-jump crash into the ground. He then took a step forward, a series of sword strikes landing on the currently unable to move civet cat’s body.
-19, -20, MISS, -19, MISS, -18. (TL: Wow, hit rate really isn’t a joke here.)
The civet cat’s tail finally curved upwards, not moving anymore. a copper coin falling from its body, landing at Ling Chen’s feet.
Picking up the copper coin, looking at his own experience bar that grew a bit, Ling Chen walked to the next civet cat, the simple, unadorned novice sword stabbing forward. 7 attacks, plus 7 transitions done in the blink of an eye, the second civet cat fell.
They were all swinging their swords attacking creatures, but like how regular players were also doing the same thing, under comparison you would find, Ling Chen’s movement’s were unusually rapid, the sword in his hand only lightly shook, an afterimage flashing by, the novice sword already landing on the target’s body. As fast as a streak of lightning flashing by. At the same time, his movement of retracting the sword was also incredibly fast. When the sword touches the target, before the damage number can even float upwards, the sword is already quickly withdrawn. Ling Chen’s body also followed the sword moving vertically or horizontally, and every time at the moment he retracts his sword and changes position he would always perfectly dodge the civet cat’s upcoming attack, as if already knowing where the opponent was about to attack. Under his attacks that were like flowing water, in only just a couple of minutes, his sides were already lying a small group of civet cat bodies. (TL: I did a horrible job of translating this. I would really appreciate if someone would try and make a better translation.)
“Huu (TL: breath out)… No challenge at all.” Curling his lips, Ling Chen said to himself. Tilting his head, he saw 3 people staring at him with their eyes popping out… Accurately saying, they were staring at the small pile of civet cat bodies by his feet. Almost not willing to believe that they were all killed by him alone. It needs to be known, unless you stepped on some kind of massive dog shit luck, right now the entire world’s players should all be at LV0. Coming here at LV1 to solo farm was still acceptable, but one person, exterminating so many within such a short period of time, how could they not be surprised. (TL: Dog shit, chinese equivalent of bullshit, no racism please)
What made them even more surprised, is the process that they saw the civet cats killed… A creature that them 3 working together still had to be careful facing, under his hands were killed easily like he was doing tricks. They practically couldn’t see him swinging his sword, the speed that he moved his body made them cross-eyed — And, that displacement did not depend on the movement speed from transitioning, but his feet following his body and moving at the same time. All players have the same initial movement speed of 100, but they, could definitely not shift their position like Ling Chen.
Glancing at them, Ling Chen didn’t say anything, picking up the copper on the ground, putting away his sword, walking deeper into the map, leaving behind those three people staring at each other. The civet cats here are 2 levels higher than him, but to him there really wasn’t any challenge. Not to mention, the Novice Village didn’t have a place that sold masks, at the moment he can’t draw attention to himself. He wasn’t really afraid of anything, but he will not allow any possibility of Ling Shui Ruo’s peaceful life being disturbed.
“That movement, that displacement, that awareness, and the gaze that he looked at us with… Definitely an expert!!”
“Wrong! An expert among experts!”
“What do you guys say, could he be someone on the China master list?”
Looking in the direction that Ling Chen left, the 3 people carefully discussed.
After the civet cat is the LV4 fox, the number of players here was already pitifully little, only able to see some sparsely spread people. Not stopping, Ling Chen continued walking forward, continuing to walk out of the field, arriving at a shrub forest.
The shrub forest was a bit dim, more or less exuding a dangerous aura. Here, Ling Chen could no longer see a single person. Ling Chen walked around inside, suddenly stopping, the shrub on his right shaking, suddenly bursting apart, two wild beasts carrying an air of ferocity charging forward, long boar tusks like two sharp knives.
[Mountain Wild Boars]: Type: Beast, Level: 5, HP: 180,. A type of wild boar that is used to living in the mountains, a violent temperament. It will automatically attack life forms that get close.
A player that is only LV1, a full set of novice equipment challenging a LV5 monster, in the eyes of any player this was an act of suicide. Not to mention, what Ling Chen is facing is the simultaneous attack of two LV5 wild boars.
Mountain wild boars… the exact creature that the item shop’s Mr. Wang want’s him to hunt.
The wild boars running speed is very quick, from far away Ling Chen could still feel a gust of wind rushing at him. He did not retreat, instead slightly squinting his eyes, quietly watching the 2 wild boars approach.
Whoosh!!
Right when the wild boar’s sharp tusks were only centimeters away from his chest, he suddenly turned his body at an alarming speed. This was not a simple body turn, because if anyone saw the speed that he turned his body, they would all be dumbstruck. incredibly surprised at his almost unbelievable explosive power.
The sharp tusk practically stuck to him as it slid past, it was also at that moment, Ling Chen raised his hand following the momentum, a “Full Power Strike” stabbing at its back.
-8!
The wild boar’s defense wasn’t too exaggerated, at the very least Ling Chen’s LV0 initial stats were enough to rip open its defense. At this moment, the second wild beast also charged to his front. Ling Chen did not retract his sword that he swung, instead his body following the sword moving forward, dodging the wild boar as if a coincident.
The faster you run, the longer it takes to stop. Ling Chen charged directly behind the first wild boar, 3 consecutive “Full Power Strike”s cutting into its back.
-9, MISS, MISS.
With only 5 hit rate, adding the level suppression, Ling Chen’s attacks were mostly “MISS”. He didn’t care, evidently understanding earlier that it would be like this.
The two wild boars that missed finally returned to their senses. This time, they did not charge one forward one backward, but instead one to the right and one to the left, 8 short legs carrying the dust on the ground upwards. Ling Chen’s took a small step backwards, and then suddenly stopped. Instead facing towards the sharp tusks of the boars and charging forward…
Whoosh!
Ling Chen’s body like a ghostly shadow crossed through the small gap between the two boars, simultaneously cutting the first boar, a damage of “-7” appearing. He then quickly turned around, another 3 continuous blows stabbing in the wild boar, causing a series of cries from the boar.
MISS, MISS, -7.
The two wild boars became furious, one of them after turning around, once landing on the ground, actually jumped up half-a-meter high, pouncing towards Ling Chen’s body. Ling Chen was speechless, casually taking a step back, immediately, in front of him a “thump” sound, the wild board had fallen on the ground, 4 short legs sticking to the ground, not coming up after a while.
Ling Chen didn’t hesitate and went forward with a series of attacks, saying while attacking: “If you can’t jump then don’t jump, you’re a boar, not a panther, do you understand self-awareness?”
Suffering from a dozen or so of Ling Chen’s attacks, even if the majority were MISS, but the first wild boar’s HP still dropped around one quarter. Finally getting off the ground, it gave a loud cry, charging at Ling Chen at full force, wanting to smash him into the sky.
Naturally its charge didn’t even scratch Ling Chen’s clothes.
If there were other players here right now, they would definitely be surprised to the point of speechlessness. Two wild boars whose movements were relatively nimble, their charge fast and fierce, normal player’s couldn’t even think of dodging it. Yet, Ling Chen’s body was leisurely moving between the two beasts, from beginning to end not being touched by the wild boars. And his novice sword always in that short time-frame of dodging able to stab or cut accurately on the wild boar’s body. Slowly taking away their lives, causing them to cry out.
3 minutes later, under a dozen or so of Ling Chen’s pinpoint attacks, the first wild boar finally fell to the ground in a cry of anguish, dropping 2 copper coins and a red potion. With only one wild boar left the remaining job was even easier. Ling Chen changed from being passive to taking the initiative, directly facing it, easily dodging its attacks, the bland novice sword attacking it from all directions. In not even 2 minutes, the second wild boar also fell on the ground.
In 5 minutes time, as LV0, using a full set of novice equipment to kill two LV5 monsters, saying it out people would find it hard to believe… Even scarier, this person was unscathed from beginning to end!
Son of a… I absolutely hated translating this chapter. I probably could have translated two chapters with the time it took me to translate this one. I have lost all confidence in myself. BTW, just ignore me. Though from how hard it was for me to translate this chapter, I’m most likely not going to translate any novel that’s martial arts heavy.