Open-world PK increased one’s Sin Value, even for novice players. If the player who initiated the PK killed the other party, their own Sin Value went up by 1, whereas killing the other party during the counterattack window added no Sin Value. The higher the Sin Value, the greater the death penalty. Sin Value decreased automatically — one point every 5 hours while out in the wilds. When Sin Value exceeded 10 points, you’d be marked as wanted by the guards of every major city, and the moment you entered a city you’d be apprehended and thrown in jail, where Sin Value dropped by 1 point per hour. Sin Value could also be scrubbed away with money — though the sum required was anything but ordinary: 1,000 gold to erase a single point of sin.
Players below Level 10 suffered no level-loss or experience-loss penalty upon death, but they’d still drop equipment and even money. Ye Tianxie didn’t attack the Guardian in front of him; instead his footwork shifted in an uncanny sidestep, his angled body darting through the gap between the Guardian and the Warrior. With a hopping step, he swept a stroke at the Apprentice Mage who was just about to fling a magic bolt at him. The length of the Hour of Eternal Fate plus the length of his arm let Ye Tianxie’s normal attack reach a full two meters, and the Apprentice Mage, caught off guard, had only just glimpsed a black shadow when he felt a stab of pain shoot through his throat. A red “-196” floated up above his head, emptying his 90 HP in an instant, and he toppled to the ground with his eyes wide.
A critical hit — another critical hit!
An instant kill! An instant kill in a novice-village-stage PK, of all things! The remaining three each drew a sharp cold breath. In the late game, once players’ strengths gradually diverged, instant kills in player-versus-player weren’t so rare — but for one to appear in the novice village, where everyone shared the same starting point, anyone who saw it would first refuse to believe their own eyes.
While they stood shocked, Ye Tianxie’s attack came right on its heels — a single stroke sweeping the Apprentice Guardian and Apprentice Warrior both at once. The two started as if waking from a dream, likewise unleashing the sole attack skill they currently possessed at Ye Tianxie’s body. That damage number of nearly two hundred left them fear-stricken now, yet the greed in their hearts swelled all the more amid the shock. Attack strength like this, at the current novice stage, already merited the word “monstrous” — and without a doubt, all of it came from that strange weapon, no ordinary thing.
As if he’d foreseen the two players’ attacking movements in advance, Ye Tianxie’s body tilted back at a middling arc while, in the same instant, he stowed the Hour of Eternal Fate. A two-handed sword and a one-handed sword thrust in at almost the same moment before his chest, a mere hair’s breadth away from it — as harrowingly precise as if it had all been finely calculated. At the same time, a slender arrow whistled past his ear.
With reaction and perception several times an ordinary person’s, even without deliberately steeling his mind, Ye Tianxie’s body would spontaneously make nimble evasions at the approach of an attack. The Hour of Eternal Fate swept out again, two red numbers floating up above the two players’ heads; the Apprentice Warrior’s HP was emptied, his body dissolving into a streak of white light and returning to the novice village. Red Leaf Iron Wall’s face went white, and he hastily backed up a step — but no sooner had his feet moved than Ye Tianxie had already closed in. A black shadow swelled in the Apprentice Guardian’s eyes, and an instant later, the chime announcing his death sounded in his ears.
Simple attacks, and in the blink of an eye two more had fallen at Ye Tianxie’s hand. The Apprentice Archer hiding behind the rock saw himself reduced to the last man standing in the space of a few seconds, and for a moment he simply froze there. By the time he finally came to his senses and made to flee, Ye Tianxie’s figure had already closed in before him, that massive weapon cleaving down at his head…
“Aaah!!”
A wildly exaggerated scream brought Ye Tianxie’s attack to a halt. The Apprentice Archer had already slumped to the ground in fright, his face deathly pale as he babbled, “Spare me… big brother, please spare me, I’ll give you all the gear I’ve got, just please don’t kill me.”
Such an over-the-top reaction piqued a thread of interest in Ye Tianxie, and he said with a face full of amusement, “You’re afraid of dying? You looked pretty happy shooting at me just now.”
Below Level 10, even death cost no levels, and even if it did, at his current Level 3 he could make it back in half an hour — nowhere near enough to be frightened to this degree. But this woebegone Red Leaf Pact player, in his very first time entering the game, had, for the sake of experiencing 100% true simulation, brain-deadly set his pain tolerance rate to 100%. Ye Tianxie’s blow coming down would be, for him, exactly no different from being cleaved across the head in the real world. He’d already regretted it the moment he entered the game — but fate offers no chance to start over…
Ye Tianxie observed his terrified expression with keen interest, the raised Hour of Eternal Fate slowly drawing back. “All right. Truth is, I’ve always been a merciful sort — even though you lot broke your word and attacked first, I shouldn’t wipe you out to the last… Here’s how it’ll go: I’ll ask you one question, and if you can give me a satisfactory answer, I’ll let you go.”
The Apprentice Archer’s face eased a few degrees, and he nodded without pause. “Thank you, big brother… ask away, whatever I know I’ll tell you for sure.”
“Am I handsome?” Ye Tianxie stroked the Hour of Eternal Fate lightly with one finger, asking offhandedly.
“Ah… handsome! Big brother, you’re the most handsome person I’ve ever seen.” The Apprentice Archer nodded frantically. Right now, even if Ye Tianxie were a Zhu Bajie who’d come tumbling down upside-down out of the sky, he’d have had to go against his conscience and give an answer to satisfy him.
Shhk!
A black arc of light slashed across the Apprentice Archer’s body, drawing out a scream like a pig being slaughtered. Another spectacular critical-hit number floated up. After the scream, the corpse had already dissolved into a streak of white light, following his doomed companions back to the novice village.
Ye Tianxie rose to his feet, his gaze — a weariness hidden within it — looking out over the desolate north. He let out a sigh and murmured softly, “You knew too much.”
Ye Tianxie walked over to the Giant Fierce Wolf’s corpse and picked up the three recovery potions it had dropped, along with the coins scattered across the ground. When he’d counted out the number of coins, Ye Tianxie couldn’t help but be shocked… This three-star BOSS had actually dropped fifty copper — which, converted to Huaxia currency, came to a whole, grand sum of fifty cents!
Tucking this grand fifty-cent fortune back into his backpack, Ye Tianxie then took out the three pieces of equipment the Giant Fierce Wolf had dropped and looked over their attributes:
Fierce Wolf Boots — Level 5 Steel-grade. Use Requirement: melee class. Boots made from the hide of a Giant Fierce Wolf, with a certain suppleness. Attributes: Defense +5, Movement Speed +3.
Fierce Wolf Pauldrons — Level 5 Steel-grade. Use Requirement: melee class. Pauldrons made from the hide of a Giant Fierce Wolf, with decent defensive capability. Attributes: Defense +10, Strength +2.
Fierce Wolf Kneepads — Level 5 Steel-grade. Use Requirement: melee class. Kneepads made from the hide of a Giant Fierce Wolf, with decent defensive capability. Attributes: Defense +8, Constitution +2.
(End of Chapter 18)