Chapter 5 - 3: Four-Person Adventure Team

Hang Yu found out that the three were called Jiang Nan, Zhao Ming, and Xiaoqiang.Jiang Nan, female, twenty years old, from Yanjing, comes from an extremely privileged family, a sophomore in the foreign language department of Yanjing University, with a pure and beautiful appearance, fair skin, beauty, and long legs, a standard black-haired straight goddess, a school beauty level great beauty.

Zhao Ming, male, forty-three years old, has a tall and sturdy build, with a dignified appearance, a long-time fitness enthusiast, loves the outdoors, he is a very masculine uncle. He once worked in Silicon Valley for ten years, then returned home to start a business, and is now the chairman of a listed tech company in Peng City, a big shot with a net worth close to ten billion, Hang Yu has seen reports about him several times in financial news and tech news.

Xiaoqiang, male, twenty-two years old, unemployed, a dropout from a vocational school, with yellow dyed hair, standing at a height of 1.65 meters, bears a strong resemblance to Baoqiang Ge; he is the type who spends all day in internet cafes playing games overnight, reluctant to add sausage to his cup noodles, and can savor iced tea as if it were Bordeaux red wine, a true underachiever.

They originally gathered five people.

A married woman died in the forest ahead.

And a Fatty died not far ahead.

Not to mention good students like Jiang Nan and pure underachievers like Xiaoqiang, even someone as experienced as Zhao Ming had never encountered something so horrifying before, at this moment, they were all still in shock.

The few were from different social strata, living in different worlds.

In real life, they would never cross paths.

But now, they had to band together for survival.

Suddenly, Xiaoqiang’s face was full of terror, making a clucking sound from his throat, much like a rooster undergoing castration, "Hey, look at the Fatty, he he... what’s happening!"

Jiang Nan and Zhao Ming were dumbfounded.

Because the Fatty who was brutally shot in the head started to emit light from his whole body and even from the sprayed blood.

All the parts of his body started to transform into a mist of light at a speed visible to the naked eye and slowly evaporate into nothing.

Actually, it wasn’t just the Fatty’s corpse, but the two goblins, the arrow in Jiang Nan’s leg, and the green blood splattered on Hang Yu’s body that all started to evaporate into light mist at a visible speed.

These traces disappeared completely in just two or three minutes.

Hang Yu explained, "In the Spirit Realm, everything can convert into a Spiritual Particle state, adhering to the dynamic Spiritual Energy Law of Conservation, thus it’s very hard to be completely destroyed... Fatty will revive somewhere in the forest, so don’t be shocked."

Everything in the Spirit Realm is composed of a unique Spirit Body.

Whether it’s a monster or a human, as long as one comes to the Spirit Realm, they have to abide by the law.

Even if killed, one can resurrect, but the process will lose a lot of energy, somewhat like a game where you drop levels and lose equipment when you die; moreover, the stronger the entity, the longer the time it takes to resurrect.

After Fatty disappeared, he left behind a light sphere.

Hang Yu picked up the light sphere, and it turned out to be none other than underwear.

Alright, one of the costs of death is at least dropping one item from your body!

Thinking of never losing or wearing out newbie equipment? Dream on! It doesn’t exist!

This unlucky Fatty Brother will turn from a dead fatty to a naked dead fatty.

When he revives, he can only streak!

Who knows how many people have exploded their underwear!

Wait a minute, goodness, wouldn’t the forest be full of screaming streaking men and women?

Hang Yu immediately envisioned the scene, feeling a wave of fear and anxiety.

Encountering monsters means a fight; if you can’t win, you can still resurrect.

But if you see a large group of naked men and women, it could end disastrously.

Because usually in this situation, there is a chance to summon the invincible River Crab Divine Beast, capable of a dimensional-breaking attack that even the Dominators cannot resist.

For integrity, for dignity, we mustn’t hang!

I don’t want to become a member of the eye-burning jungle streaking brigade.

Ahem, let’s get back to the topic.

This place is called the "Descent Forest".

According to Hang Yu’s memory, this is where Trial Takers first emerge, all starting in this Descent Forest.

The first step a Trial Taker needs to take is to break out of the Descent Forest, essentially making it a newbie training ground designed by the Spirit Realm Dominator for new players, but it’s extremely difficult for an individual to break out on their own, so finding a group to team up with is a good thing right now.

Jiang Nan discovered her thigh wound had healed.

Not a single trace was left, her pair of beautiful legs still smooth and snow-white, leaving her in disbelief.

Hang Yu wasn’t surprised, his abdominal wound also self-healed.

In the Spirit Realm, as long as a creature’s health hasn’t reached zero, no matter how severe the injury, they won’t die, and as long as they stay out of combat for a time, the injuries will heal quickly...of course, injury healing doesn’t mean health recovery.

Because he got stabbed once.

He now only had eight points of health left.

Natural health recovery is extremely slow, with only one point recovered per hour.

Knowing that Fatty wasn’t dead and would revive brought some comfort to the group.

Zhao Ming showed a skeptical expression: "How do you know all this?"

Both Jiang Nan and Xiaoqiang were stunned and immediately focused their gazes on Hang Yu.

They were all new to the game; how did he know so much? It was indeed quite suspicious!

Uh, was I speaking too quickly, saying too much by accident?

Doesn’t matter, anyway they’ll learn sooner or later!

After some thought, Hang Yu replied, "Everyone gets an Innate Skill granted by the Dominator, why don’t you sense if you have such a skill?"

The group, having just arrived in the forest and been chased by monsters, hadn’t had time to check these things, realizing only now.

"This... this is!"

Hang Yu asked, "What kind of Skills did you all get?"

The group didn’t hide anything and each shared their situation.

Uncle Zhao Ming acquired a skill called "Divine Steel Armor Protection," Jiang Nan got a skill named "Dawn Goddess’s Covenant," and Xiaoqiang Zhang obtained a skill called "Heart of the Fire Element."

[Divine Steel Armor Protection], consuming 20% of Spiritual Power, can form a shield around the body. The shield’s defense equals 100% of one’s own Defense, and the shield energy is 50% of one’s Life Energy. With each level increase, the shield energy increases by 5%, and consumption increases by 1%. The cooldown time is 60 seconds, and it cannot be stacked.

[Dawn Goddess’s Covenant], the Trial Taker receives the Dawn Goddess’s favor. Casting enhancing skills increases their effectiveness by 50%, with a 1% increase per level.

[Heart of the Fire Element], consuming 10% Spiritual Power, can release a Flame Attribute attack, causing massive explosion damage and a continuous flame burning effect. The skill’s effectiveness is proportional to Magic Attack Power and increases with level, with a cooldown time of twenty seconds.

Zhao Ming has a Combat Profession talent.

Jiang Nan has a Holy Profession talent.

Xiaoqiang Zhang has a Magic Profession talent.

The innate skills given by the Dominator are completely random and have no direct relation to gender or talent.

Zhao Ming suddenly glowed with light, a translucent light shield encircling his body, forming a solid protection, which made him dazed, "If I knew I had such powerful abilities, why the hell did I even run earlier? I could’ve just stood still and taken several hits!"

"Look quickly, everyone look, I can cast a fireball now!" Little Blond Xiaoqiang Zhang rubbed a hot, fist-sized fireball between his hands, his face filled with ecstatic expression, "Is this a superpower? Hey, I’ve got superpowers now!"

As he spoke.

He threw the fireball.

A heatwave swept through, and the explosion sound shook their eardrums; a football-sized hole was blasted onto a large rock, with traces of flame burns remaining around.

Xiaoqiang Zhang was startled himself.

He stared blankly at the sparks that lingered on his hands, his expression visibly becoming more excited.

Holy shit!

This is an unstoppable momentum!

Xiaoqiang Zhang was a downright nobody in real life, deeply immersed in online games and web novels for years. Now that he suddenly grasped such awesome power, he couldn’t help but automatically imagine himself in a plot of millions of words of web fiction where he obtains super cheats and ascends to the pinnacle of life.

And replaced the protagonist with himself.

Jiang Nan was utterly dumbfounded: "That’s really amazing!"

Zhao Ming and Xiaoqiang Zhang, one could provide strong defense, while the other could produce powerful attacks, which was quite enviable.

While envying others, Jiang Nan also felt depressed and frustrated.

Look at others, then look at yourself, this useless skill is completely worthless!

Zhao Ming asked: "What’s your skill, little brother?"

"It’s nothing much," Hang Yu replied vaguely, "I just gained combat experience and basic knowledge, so my skills look improved, but compared to those nearly superpower-like skills, it’s nowhere close in effect."

Hearing Hang Yu say so, Xiaoqiang Zhang felt even more proud.

He just thought he had encountered a special forces king in the real world.

Turned out it was just a talent skill that enhanced combat techniques, how could it compare to my fire superpower? Looks like among these people, my skills are the coolest and the most awesome!

Xiaoqiang Brother was obviously immersed in immense superiority.

CEO of a listed company? Yan University’s school beauty goddess?

If such identities were in normal circumstances, Xiaoqiang Zhang might have been too inferior even to muster the courage to talk, but now being surpassed by him, isn’t that something to be happy about?

He suddenly liked this game a bit.

At least someone like me can have a chance to rise up!

No matter if you’re a beauty, a CEO, a high official, or a star, don’t say anything more, first take my salted fish thrust attack!

The era of turning the tables is coming!

While Jiang Nan was sobering up and feeling low and frustrated, Xiaoqiang Zhang was complacent, Zhao Ming remained clear-headed throughout, which is why he’s the kind of person who accomplishes great things!

Zhao Ming’s intuition told him that Hang Yu must be holding back something.

He was too calm; this person surely isn’t that simple.

Jiang Nan was clueless, full of bewildered expressions as he asked, "What do we do next?"

"In the long term, we need to find a way to leave this forest. In the short term, we should find a relatively safe place to settle down. There are too many wandering monsters in the forest."

Hang Yu gave Jiang Nan a few more glances.

However, don’t misunderstand, he didn’t harbor any inappropriate thoughts.

Hang Yu felt that he had no other merits aside from being honest, smart, and a bit handsome, all he had left was self-awareness. He wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe that after a heroic rescue, the other party would willingly marry no one but him in a cliché melodrama.

Although as of now, its value cannot be realized.

But Jiang School Beauty undoubtedly acquired a skill that is not inferior to anyone’s.

Xiaoqiang Zhang and Zhao Ming’s skills seem impressive but may not necessarily be stronger than Jiang Nan’s.

Admittedly, having strong offensive and defensive capabilities gives a huge advantage in the early stage and facilitates rapid development and original accumulation, but their drawback is too high future replaceability, and their role will diminish over time.

Jiang Nan’s ability, which seems useless at first glance, can cover and strengthen a whole category of skills. The early stage is challenging, but its advantage grows stronger in the future.

It’s hard to say who is better or worse; the key still depends on oneself.

"I can lead you, but I have requirements." Hang Yu didn’t directly agree to team up, he posed two conditions, "First, listen to my commands in everything, do not act independently, and do not disobey orders. Second, all items dropped by monsters will be distributed by me."

Jiang Nan had no objections.

In her current situation, she couldn’t have any objections either.

Zhao Ming pondered for a moment, finally nodded, and said, "I agree."

Xiaoqiang Zhang felt a bit dissatisfied with such unfair demands, but he’s always been indecisive. As the other two agreed, he had no choice but to scratch his head and agree to follow suit.

"Alright, then let’s go." Hang Yu nodded satisfactorily, "I’ll take you to find a good place."