Chapter 3: Boss

Attack-Defense Balance!

A knight is essentially just a main tank template; of course there are some fancy playstyles, but the main tank is the proper way.

But with this attack-defense balance, one only needs to mindlessly stack defense to simultaneously gain high attack.

As for why not stack attack, being a main tank class template naturally makes defense easy to stack; the off‑hand Shield is specifically for adding defense.

That makes you practically invincible!

Su Sheng's loud shouting attracted the attention of many players around Newbie Village; they all looked at Su Sheng with puzzled eyes, that gaze…

Ahem…

Su Sheng let out a light cough, composed himself, glanced at the character panel, and suppressed his inner joy.

This Hidden Class is powerful, that is indisputable, but it cannot change the reality that he is currently a combat noob.

Attack and defense are both exactly two points; the Attack-Defense Balance passive is now completely useless.

Level up first; grinding is every newbie's primary task.

Glancing at the few NPCs in Newbie Village surrounded by a sea of people, Su Sheng gave up the idea of taking a newbie quest.

Each of those NPCs in Newbie Village has a newbie quest; of course the rewards are small, but better than nothing, yet there are too many people now.

So, Su Sheng hoisted his sword and Shield and walked toward the village outskirts.

However, before officially fighting monsters, there are two things to do.

Su Sheng opened the system settings interface, and the pain perception was immediately raised to the upper limit of 70%.

The default pain setting is 30%; it can be lowered to a minimum of 5% or raised up to a maximum of 70%.

Enduring pain is a necessary ability for every high‑level player, because according to actual testing, the intensity of pain slightly affects a character's reaction and perception.

Although the effect is minuscule and ordinary players likely won't notice, for experts that difference is fatal.

Next, enable Free Mode!

Every expert is in Free Mode.

In normal gameplay, it's semi‑free mode; in Combat State, the system assists the character in adjusting posture to execute skills.

For example, an archer player who isn't a real‑life archery expert would likely miss without system assistance.

But with system aid, even a complete archery novice can achieve high accuracy.

Of course, the system only guarantees a hit, but which body part is hit remains uncontrollable.

In this virtual‑real game, there is Weak Point Damage; hitting the eye or a vital spot with an arrow adds damage.

All high‑level players are in Free Mode.

After adjusting, Su Sheng instantly felt a notch lighter, no longer having that vague feeling of being restrained.

…

After leaving the village, a vast meadow stretched out.

A heated monster‑grinding scene.

It helps that the meadow is large, yet even so some monsters are hard to find; often as soon as a monster spawns, five or six attacks converge on it.

Poor wild monster, perhaps didn't even see the world clearly before its life was snuffed out.

Level‑1 wild cat: 2 defense, 3 attack, 20 HP.

Level‑1 toad: 3 defense, 2 attack, 30 HP.

Alright, Su Sheng is speechless; aside from HP, these level‑1 wild monsters have attack stats higher than his.

No wonder he's a combat noob newcomer.

Grind~

Just then, a big toad appeared beside Su Sheng.

A reverse‑hand sword.

-1

The toad's defense is 3.

Su Sheng's 2 attack can only deal 1 damage.

Before the blade returns, he activates the skill Heroic Strike, the sword shadow lands two consecutive hits.

-1

-1

As the Heroic Strike skill ends and the normal attack window closes, he smoothly thrusts another sword, perfectly piercing the toad's open mouth.

-3!

Yellow text: Weak Point Damage.

This is the advantage of Free Mode; with system aid, you must wait until the normal attack window ends before making the next attack.

Although Su Sheng once was an assassin class, as an honored high‑level player he naturally employs these melee tricks.

At this moment, the big toad's tongue finally lashes out.

Shield Raise lagged a step, the toad's tongue brushed Su Sheng, and he felt a slight tingling.

-2!

Newbie monsters are almost a boon; even clueless newcomers can gamble their lives using their HP advantage.

"I'm rusty," Su Sheng sighed, and swung his sword again.

Earlier the Shield Raise was slow; otherwise he could have blocked with a wooden Shield. The knight's off‑hand Shield isn't decorative—if a Block succeeds, it can mitigate a large portion of damage.

Although these toads have little to block.

Heroic Strike, as the knight's starter skill, costs no resource but has a 10‑second CD. For just one toad, before the next Heroic Strike recovers, the toad lets out a lonely wail and flips over under Su Sheng's blade.

10 experience points, nothing dropped, the stingy Teng Long.

Experience is a bit low; you need about thirty to forty level‑1 monsters to level up, and Su Sheng, who thinks of himself as a high‑level player, naturally is too lazy to compete for monsters here with so many players.

So Su Sheng lifts his sword and shield and walks toward the distance.

Of course, along the way some monsters happen to spawn nearby, and Su Sheng naturally doesn't let them go.

Perhaps because of the crowd, the monster spawn rate on this newbie meadow is still very fast.

After harvesting a white toad‑skin material, Su Sheng crossed the meadow and reached a small rise, where a few players were scattered.

The monster is a level‑5 mutated rabbit, with 5 attack, 5 defense, 50 HP.

Being a low‑tier fighter, his sword still deals 1 damage.

However, facing the rabbit's big front teeth, Su Sheng can always timely raise his wooden shield; occasionally –2 to –3, but most of the time it's a Block judgment that appears.

On average consuming 10 HP, Su Sheng can kill a rabbit, gaining 50 experience.

Adding the night owl and toad he previously cleaned up, after killing only five rabbits Su Sheng leveled up.

Each level grants 5 attribute points: +10 HP, Knight class, fixed allocation of 1 Strength, 2 Constitution, then 2 free attribute points.

With a balanced attack‑defense, Su Sheng had no hesitation and threw all 2 free points into Constitution.

Knight growth: 1 Constitution, 10 HP, 1 physical defense.

At level 2, Constitution increased by 4, defense rose to 6 (balanced), attack also 6, HP to 160, and the level‑up state fully restored.

Now, one sword hit makes the rabbit's damage become 5, 6, occasionally Yellow Weak Point Damage 8, 9.

As for Su Sheng, it's almost all Block Exemption.

However, the experience needed for leveling increased, and a rabbit now only gives 40 experience.

Currently the rabbit's experience is still optimistic; advance another level and move forward.

…

Spawn~

Just as golden light flashed on Su Sheng, when he reached level 3, a commotion broke out ahead.

Su Sheng looked up and saw a gold‑furred rabbit about half a human's size clutching a big radish; with one club it smashed a warrior player into white light.

Because death in Newbie Village carries no penalty, there is no corpse running; death directly triggers white‑light resurrection at the spawn point.

BOSS!

This golden big rabbit is undoubtedly a BOSS!