Chapter 8

translator: henyee translations editor: henyee translations

she opened the door and saw that it was meng di who was knocking on the door.

“didi? what’s the matter?” lao yao asked gloomily.

“mr. landlord, i’m… i’m here to call you for dinner.” meng di was a shy girl. she still wasn’t very open when facing lao yao.

“oh, alright. thank you. let’s go down now!” lao yao nodded and turned around to close the door. then, he went downstairs to the living room with meng di.

at the dining table, a group of girls had already gathered. ning jing was chatting with her friends about the game. when she saw lao yao come down, she said proudly, “hey, uncle, it’s been an afternoon. what level are you at?”

“don’t mention it. i haven’t even leveled up once!” lao yao said with a bitter expression.

“no way!?” ning jing and the girls widened their eyes. “even though there are a lot of people fighting for monsters, you can’t possibly kill none, right?”

yang yongle, who was sitting at the table, also looked at lao yao in confusion. the girls in the studio had already reached almost level 3 in the afternoon. lao yao, who was originally a new member that she thought highly of, was actually so far behind. this made her unable to figure it out no matter what.

facing the girls’ puzzled gazes, lao yao couldn’t help but blush. he couldn’t possibly say that he had been “discussing” habits with the system since he came online, right?

hence, he did not say anything and buried his head in his food. when he was full, he ran back to his room.

“big sister, do you think he can do it or not?” ning jing pouted.

“don’t jump to conclusions too early!” yang yongle shook his head and said, “after all, this is his first time playing online games. he has to adapt to it, right?”

“hmph, he doesn’t even tell us his character attributes…” ning jing mumbled, but she didn’t probe further.

after returning to the game, lao yao wanted to quickly start leveling up. however, as soon as he held the daggers in his hand, he could not help but compete with the system again. he continued to change the way he held the daggers.

actually, if it was a normal gamer, they wouldn’t have made such a mistake. a program was a program. it couldn’t be changed just by competing.

however, lao yao was different. he was a stubborn man. although he knew that doing this might really not change anything, he couldn’t help but go to the region to fight.

it was just like how he fought for survival back then…

after lao yao persisted for another two hours and some players reached level 5, lao yao finally realized that his resistance had really achieved its desired goal.

after lao yao changed his grip, the system’s adjustment that he had expected did not appear! the two daggers in his hands finally became one forward and the other backward!

ding! a system announcement sounded in lao yao’s ears. “due to the persistent efforts of lao yao, the correction system has specially made changes according to the players’ habits. it has activated the player’s free control mode and he’s rewarded the skill: backhand sword!”

damn! after seven to eight hours of hard work, i finally got my reward! lao yao immediately burst into tears…

in fact, lao yao’s situation was not a special case. back when this game was designed, the programmer had already made preparations. after all, this was a virtual reality system. basically, people were used as references. for example, in the real world, there were many people who were left-handed. if they only played with ordinary keyboards, it would not cause any discomfort. however, once they entered virtual reality, these habitual problems would be exposed. in the system’s default, they held weapons with their right hand. this way, people who were used to using their left hand would feel uncomfortable.

the free control mode was designed for this type of people. only when players persevered and habitually changed the default settings of the system would this mode be triggered.

many people had encountered lao yao’s habit problem, but they couldn’t be like him. in the golden age of the game, they would never spend seven to eight hours to correct the habit problem with the system. after they tried it, without exception, they all gave up. if they weren’t used to it, so be it. anyway, with the system guiding their movements, their efficiency in killing monsters wouldn’t decrease.

therefore, lao yao could be considered the first person to eat crabs…

after looking at the description of the free control mode, lao yao finally understood what was going on. when the free mode was activated, the player’s movements would not be controlled by the system. take the casting of skills for example. before the free mode was activated, the system would guide the player to complete the skill movements according to the settings. however, once the free mode was activated, such skill movements would be controlled by the player on their own, and the system would no longer guide them.

although the routine was a little formal, it was a good thing for ordinary players. after all, not everyone was an agile expert. most players were just ordinary people.

after understanding the meaning of the free mode, lao yao knew that the invisible shackles that the system had placed on him had been broken. as for what benefits there were, he still had to slowly figure it out.

looking back at the skill rewarded by the system, lao yao began to think about it.

“backhand sword: player lao yao’s unique skill. it will only be effective if you use a right-handed weapon. consume 35 energy to deal 50% normal damage to the target with 10 additional points of damage. you will also obtain a combo point. if the target is in a stunned state, the damage will double. current level: 1. proficiency: 0%.”

this skill seemed very impressive, right? however, after comparing it to the skill that lao yao assassin had when he was born, everyone would understand.

forehand sword level 1: consumes 30 energy points, deals 75% normal damage to the target with 20 additional damage points. obtains 1 combo point. current proficiency: 0%

the assassin class did not have an mp bar. they only had a 100/100 energy bar. forehand sword was a skill that all assassins had. after comparison, it was obvious. on the surface, the damage of the backhand sword skill that lao yao had obtained was not high. the only thing that was worth discussing was the last description, “if the target is in a stunned state, the damage will be doubled.”

in other words, if lao yao attacked a target in a stunned state, it would be equivalent to dealing 100% damage and adding 20 points of damage. if it was a critical strike, it would be equivalent to four times the damage!

overall, if this skill was used well, it could be considered a very powerful skill. of course, the prerequisite was that lao yao had a skill that could stun the target…

as for the effect of the skill, he still needed to verify it. however, his hard work had finally paid off, making lao yao’s mood finally improve.

“level up! level up!” lao yao shouted. he finally did not need to be looked down upon by ning jing anymore.

ignoring the gazes of the surrounding players that were looking at him like he was a fool, lao yao charged towards a wild boar that had just spawned beside him.

his left hand stabbed the wild boar’s front leg, and his right hand subconsciously slashed the wild boar’s neck artery.

-40

-30

before lao yao could continue, a wave of saber lights and sword shadows instantly killed the wild boar.

“goddamn it!” lao yao cursed. the two slashes just now gave him 10 experience points from this dead wild boar, but the experience points needed to level up from level 1 to level 2 was 500…

after he finished cursing, lao yao immediately reacted. the two damages he dealt to the wild boar seemed to have been caused by the forehand sword skill and the backhand sword skill respectively. however, he did not have the intention to use a skill just now. could it be that the system determined it as a skill the moment he attacked?

this couldn’t go on. if he couldn’t even distinguish his normal attacks and skill attacks, he wouldn’t be able to grasp the rhythm of the battle. he would be in a very passive position!

therefore, after understanding the changes brought about by the free mode, lao yao had no choice but to stop leveling and start thinking.

in free mode, the player would be able to control the player’s body. in other words, the use of skills was determined by the thoughts in the player’s brain. the system only used the helmet’s brainwave interception to determine the damage. if the player was in a state of unconsciousness like before, the system would default to the skill attack.

from the looks of it, if he wanted to fight in the free mode, he had to think of a way to control his thoughts. he had to have a clear concept of when to use normal attacks and when to use skills. only then would he be able to control the rhythm of the battle.

thinking of this, lao yao looked at the dense crowd around him. he planned to find a leveling spot with fewer people and quietly practice.

the map of the novice village should be the same, right? lao yao sent an email to yang yongle and asked about the location of the level 5 monsters.

“you’re already level 5!?” yang yongle’s reply revealed a hint of surprise. just now, when they were eating, lao yao said that he hadn’t even leveled up once. now that he suddenly wrote that he was looking for a level 5 leveling spot, how could yang yongle not be surprised?

lao yao did not answer yang yongle’s question. instead, he followed her instructions and headed towards the level 5 wild wolf spawn point…