105: Chapter 105: Let it end there.

As they spoke, the trio of Tang Yao and her companions had already reached the ridge of the field.

Looking at Miao Cuihua right in front of him, Hu Gualing felt a bit embarrassed regarding her request and said, "My skills are decent, but I am about to leave the village for an adventure, so I might not have time to forge in the village anymore... However, you can go find Wang Dachui. If you find him and mention my name, he will definitely do his best to forge a new set of farming tools for you!"

Miao Cuihua nodded, "Venturing out of the village is good. So, are you here this time to challenge me?"

Hu Gualing: "Yes."

Miao Cuihua: "Then are you sure you want to start the challenge now?"

Hearing Miao Cuihua confirm repeatedly, Hu Gualing felt a bit strange: How come this time, it seems much more formal?

Tang Yao, loving to stir up trouble, urged from the side, "Hurry up and confirm! You were saying on the road that you were thirsty for a fight, so now hurry, hurry, hurry, let's start fighting!"

Hu Gualing: "..."

The road was the road, but now, facing Miao Cuihua herself up close, an overwhelming sense of oppression rushed towards him, forcing him to be a bit more cautious.

But then he thought, regardless of whether he could succeed in the challenge, he wouldn't know until he fought. How could he be afraid of this and that before the fight even started?

Hu Gualing took out the brass knuckles and put them on his hands, gripping the finger loops tightly with both hands, then clenched his fingers to ensure that they wouldn't fly off during the fight due to intense movements.

But since this is a game, things already equipped on the character shouldn't come off that easily, right?...

Hu Gualing shook his head, throwing these strange thoughts out of his mind. He moved his fingers slightly, feeling that although the brass knuckles weren't heavy, they brought him a great sense of security. Suddenly, all negative emotions like panic and nervousness vanished, and instead, he felt eager to try.

After making these pre-battle preparations and ensuring he could enter a combat state as quickly as possible, Hu Gualing said to Miao Cuihua quite firmly, "Confirmed, let's start the challenge now!"

Miao Cuihua: "Alright, follow me." After saying that, Miao Cuihua turned and left the ridge.

Hu Gualing was dumbfounded: "Ah??"

He thought that Miao Cuihua's solemn and repeated confirmation of whether he wanted to start the challenge meant that once he confirmed, the challenge would start immediately.

That was why he had prepared for battle, mobilizing his energy and spirit, just waiting to fight at any moment.

As a result, Miao Cuihua actually walked away!!!

Hu Gualing felt like he had thrown a punch into thin air, and his energy and spirit suddenly collapsed.

"...We haven't even officially started fighting yet, and she already feinted me." Hu Gualing muttered, following Miao Cuihua's figure.

The place Miao Cuihua took him to was not far, just an open space next to the ridge.

This place should have been considered a residential area, but because it was too close to the Village East Entrance and too far from the village center, no villagers had built houses there, and it hadn't been used for other purposes either; it was just an empty lot.

"We're fighting here?" Hu Gualing looked left and right. The place was about ten to twenty square meters and relatively flat. If they were to fight here, it was indeed more suitable than by the ridge.

Miao Cuihua: "Yes."

As she spoke, her expression changed, no longer the persona of a simple, honest farm woman, but instead, she introduced very seriously and formally, "Dreamer, we hope that Dreamers will only leave Xiao Huang Village for adventures once they have a certain level of self-preservation ability. Therefore, this challenge before leaving the village aims to test the Dreamer's true strength. This battle will also be a sparring match. Please put aside any psychological burden, fight beautifully, and show your best style!"

Hearing these words, Hu Gualing muttered to himself: Why does this sound a bit like what that bald, egg-headed principal used to say during every pre-game mobilization speech when I was at school?

But this wasn't important, and now was not the time to think about these things.

But what did Miao Cuihua mean by "sparring match"?

Miao Cuihua: "Dreamer, do you understand?"

Hu Gualing asked curiously: "I don't quite understand. Does that 'sparring match' mean that no one will die?"

Miao Cuihua: "Yes, in the challenge mission scenario, the Dreamer will not lose their life. Damage received during the challenge will automatically recover after the challenge ends."

Hu Gualing suddenly realized.

So that was it!

Doesn't that mean that when conducting a challenge mission, he could completely let go?

Anyway, once the challenge ended, he could revive with full health. Even if he sustained heavy injuries, he wouldn't need to spend money on medical treatment, nor would he have to be like the last time he challenged Miao Cuihua, where being beaten to death meant he could only revive using fantasy points, wasting precious fantasy points without knowing any better.

And this time, he didn't need to worry about that. The game development team... was finally conscientious for once!

Hey, wait, that's not right.

Hu Gualing suddenly realized and asked Miao Cuihua very suspiciously: "You say it's a sparring match, but the last time I..."

"Last time? What about last time?" Xiao Niao perked up his ears, very interested in Hu Gualing's glorious deeds.

Hu Gualing rolled his eyes at Xiao Niao and continued asking Miao Cuihua: "When I came to challenge you last time, it didn't seem like a sparring match at all?"

"Oh? Did it?"

Miao Cuihua thought about it, "Your last time didn't count as an official challenge. That was an active attack, so of course I could fight back."

Hu Gualing also thought about it: "Is that so?" When he came last time, he indeed hadn't initiated a challenge, and Miao Cuihua hadn't brought him to this open space that seemed dedicated to challenge missions. Come to think of it, was it really his fault?

Forget it, forget it. Let's fight, let's fight! Today, he must wash away his previous shame and make her look at him with new eyes!

Hu Gualing was full of Battle Intent: "Come on, start the battle!"

His words seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism.

As soon as he shouted it, it meant this challenge had already begun.

Around the open space where he and Miao Cuihua were standing, a transparent protective shield appeared, like an inverted glass bowl, descending from the sky to cover the area where the two of them were standing.

This scene was easy to understand; it was a light barrier, something that existed in many games.

Such things generally served the purpose of isolating the scene.

Xiao Niao, wanting to test it, walked outside the arena, extended a finger, and carefully poked at the transparent protective shield.

He found that it was exactly as he had guessed; his finger couldn't move forward as soon as it reached the edge of the arena, blocked by the transparent protective shield.

Tang Yao found it quite fun, so she also curiously walked to the edge of the arena and poked her finger at it.

Tang Yao: "Hmm? This thing feels like a bubble when you poke it, soft, but you can't poke through it. It's truly amazing! Let me poke it again, it's fun, it's fun!"