Chapter 438: The Newbie Trial Ends

Apparently,

The top-tier players at the Moonlight Tavern ultimately placed their bets on Laipishe.

Figures like Bingzhang Liweier from the Juren Shijie, the Wuzheng Qishi from an unknown different world, and Shengzhu, who attempted to challenge 【Luotesi】, were no longer within the top-tier players' considerations.

Originally, everyone favored Shengzhu, believing he should be able to compete with Ying Zheng for the championship of the points leaderboard.

But Shengzhu was dead set on clashing with Luotesi.

That was a terrifying monster in a weakened state, suppressed by various seals, yet still at the peak of 【Tier 2】 strength; it was no different from seeking death.

Therefore, they could only move down the line and place their bets on the second-strongest, Laipishe.

This also led to Laipishe's points growing visibly, like a snowball, constantly opening game items from treasure chests to arm himself before hunting those demon monsters.

As for the other players, they were struggling more.

"Bastard, it's a deep-sea type monster, possessing seawater abilities even stronger than the Water Demon Basha, and mental attacks that surpass Zhoulan..."

Shengzhu looked somewhat disheveled; he had already opened game items from treasure chests to restore his physical shell, and although he hadn't fully recovered his peak strength, he could at least move freely.

But it was precisely this unsealing of his strength that made him feel unprecedented pressure.

【Luotesi】's strength seemed much greater than imagined.

Whoosh.

Shengzhu raised his thick, dragon-man-form arm, a chain tightly wrapped around his wrist.

【Magic-Sealing Bracelet (Tier 2)】: A bracelet capable of sealing magic power.

Originally, this kind of thing was used for imprisonment.

However, Shengzhu used it to directly seal the statue seal that Lü Dongbin had reinforced upon him, finally breaking free.

But, Lü Dongbin's strength was truly too great, causing the 【Magic-Sealing Bracelet】 to only barely seal a portion of the magic power left behind by the other party.

So, although he broke free, his strength had not returned to its peak.

Moreover, the twelve talismans containing his own power were still lost across the world; only by retrieving those complete talismans would he be in his strongest form.

"Just you wait, Luotesi, the dignity of the Fire Demon brooks no provocation; once I recover my full power, I will come back for you!"

Shengzhu spat out threats bitterly.

Even though he sensed that even in his strongest form, he was no match for Luotesi, he was just being stubborn.

At this moment,

He had already arrived at the deepest part of the Behemoth, the Shendian Feixu at the 【Diyi Jizhui】, and sensed a super-giant black octopus.

【Luotesi's Pet · Black Octopus (Lord-level)】.

"I'll start by collecting interest for your disrespect toward the Fire Demon—by killing your pet!"

Shengzhu looked at the black octopus with greedy eyes; if he could hunt this monster, shouldn't it drop a higher-quality treasure chest?

Levi was covered in blood, his arm broken, and he recovered after drinking a Recovery Potion.

Behind him were the corpses of countless cat demons and Ox-Heads.

A treasure chest dropped, and he opened it cleanly and efficiently.

【Ogre's Soul (Material)】: The main material for crafting 【Berserker Potion】; one must also collect Revenge Soul Stones and small red crystals. After drinking the complete potion, one can change class to 【Berserker】.

Hint: To find Revenge Soul Stones, one must head to the Anhei Thunder Melee Ruins.

"Boring, Berserker... just the name sounds like the kind of guy who would definitely end up covered in blood while fighting."

Levi said he hated it, but his body moved, searching for the Anhei Thunder Melee Ruins mentioned by the game hint.

Having experienced the destruction of his world, although he had no extreme reaction,

his desire to lead the world to cast off the Free Wave of being manipulated by others was at an all-time high.

Zzzzz...

Wisps of cold air poured into his chest along his collar.

Levi's expression was solemn as he vigilantly watched his surroundings.

Roar.

A red zombie jumped out of the lush jungle, its claws swiping out, and a black energy ball flew toward Levi.

He crossed his dual blades and slashed the black ball to pieces.

Like an arrow released from a bow, Levi fired his grappling hook, accelerated with the pulling force, and severed the red zombie's neck with a single slash.

Looking at the fallen red zombie, he did not lower his guard.

Because monsters like these always appeared in packs. Sure enough,

over a dozen zombies stumbled out, smelled the scent of a living person, and lunged toward Levi.

Levi was just about to move when he suddenly sensed something was wrong and hurriedly jumped up.

But he was a step too late; cold, low-temperature energy suddenly condensed under his feet, like an ice bomb, intending to blow his legs apart.

Fortunately, he moved in advance, which barely kept his left lower leg from being frozen solid.

Bang.

Levi used his sword hilt to smash the ice, pulled out his frozen left leg, and moved nimbly on one leg.

In the past, a situation where his leg was frozen like this would have directly caused him to lose his mobility.

Fortunately, he had opened quite a few game items in previous treasure chests that enhanced his physical constitution, giving him recovery power comparable to some of the original Giants.

"Is that... the monster that can drop Revenge Soul Stones?"

Levi's pupils shrank suddenly as he saw the culprit attacking him clearly.

A zombie whose flesh had rotted and fallen away, leaving only thin, withered bones, was surrounded by an aura of ice; even its bones and the remaining rotten flesh were an extreme blue.

It held a giant scythe in its hand.

As the scythe swung, each stroke stirred up gusts of cold air, freezing the very air until it burst.

【Daoshizhe·Guyuxi (Lord-level)】

"The Survey Corps never retreats!"

Levi took a deep breath, gripped his dual blades tightly, and charged toward the monster.

……

【Newcomer trial ended……】

As the countdown ended, all the newcomers were teleported back to the plaza of the Game Town, looking at each other in dismay.

Some laughed wildly, seemingly having obtained great benefits, while others looked dejected, clearly having been so frightened by the monsters that they didn't hunt at all, but instead hid somewhere to pass the time of the newcomer trial.

【Leaderboard (Newcomer)】

Laipishe: 380 points, Ying Zheng: 350 points, Shengzhu: 330 points, Levi: 276 points……

Hint: The top five newcomers on the leaderboard will be awarded the special item title 【Newcomer King】 issued by the game merchant.

Hint 2: By equipping the 【Newcomer King】 title, all 【Tier 1】 items can be purchased at a 10% discount (for personal use only), and cannot be traded.

"Damn it."

Terumi Mei's expression was ugly; although she had already anticipated the result, she was still very unhappy.

The 【Newcomer King】 title is also one of the reasons why various factions want to recruit newcomers; a 10% discount on items in every Game Town, while non-tradable, is equivalent to a disguised reduction in the time and funds required to cultivate that player.

【Bet-upon players will be automatically teleported to the 【Moonlight Tavern】……】

Swish, swish, swish.

A burst of teleportation light lit up.

The players who were bet upon all arrived at the second floor of the Moonlight Tavern, facing the top-tier players directly.

Levi said quite unhappily: "Betting, is this some kind of nasty game for Nobles? It really is vile."

Before the Juren Shijie was destroyed, he heard that the Nobles within the core walls had some nasty ways of playing games.

Therefore, he had no fondness for this kind of game at all.

"You are thinking too shallowly."

Tsunade shook her head with a serious expression and said: "All of this is to better select excellent players with potential to resist the Polluted World."

This was indeed the original intention of the game merchant; accumulating wealth was only a secondary reason.

"Humans, daring to bet on a demon, truly a death-seeking act."

Shengzhu was not polite at all, his massive body almost brushing against the ceiling of the Moonlight Tavern.

He lowered his head, looking at the human ants he had once ruled, who were actually looking at him with indifferent smiles.

"Do not be irritable, it is just a game, and I have no intention of recruiting Your Excellency."

Aizen smiled gently, completely undisturbed by the demon wizard's provocation.

A demon?

A very peculiar life form; I wonder if it can resist my Kyoka Suigetsu? (End of chapter)