Chapter 5: Bandits

The Mage’s Legend—No Pop-Ups

The fourth brother finally understood, his face lighting up with joy. “You can kill people! So what you mean is, you go ahead and kill, and we just pick up whatever drops and sell it?” Seeing that the fourth brother had caught on, Lin Jia grinned slyly, though the eldest brother still looked thoroughly confused.

At this point in the game, most of the players hadn’t even reached level 7. The majority had only heard the news that morning and started downloading the client then; very few, like the fourth brother, had been online at 8 a.m. when the server opened. By the time most players had finished installing and logged on, it was already around noon. This meant that in the morning, a surplus of idle monsters had allowed a handful of players to reach levels 9 or 10, but the noon rush, with too many people and too few monsters, quickly capped player progression.

Players, unfamiliar with the mechanics of the new game, were struggling. There were too many people, not enough monsters, and a lack of gold to buy weapons, gear, and those life-saving health potions. As a result, most players hovered around level 5, and aside from the system-issued wooden sword and cloth armor, they had nothing else. Equipment like necklaces, bracelets, and rings were rare. Sure, you could buy them at the system’s jewelry shop, but any gold you managed to scrape together was spent on health potions long before you could dream of jewelry. Even the fourth brother, one of the earliest to “strike it rich,” was running low on reserves.

The scarcity of gold further slowed leveling. Lin Jia’s idea was to use his mysterious ability to kill players—something he still didn’t understand—targeting those who were grinding and had filled their packs with meat and the occasional piece of gear. The loot would drop, and they could sell it. It was a far quicker way to make money than killing monsters, especially now when players outnumbered monsters by more than ten to one!

With money, they could stock up on health potions and take them to higher-level monster zones, grinding tougher mobs and leveling at a faster pace, away from the crowds. They could even buy better weapons to increase their attack power.

The fourth brother already pictured himself clad in a beautiful sky-blue light armor worth 3,300 gold coins. With a whoop, he dragged the eldest brother back to Border Village, handed over a dozen precious little health potions, and off they went, sprinting across hills and rivers. By the time the near-exhausted eldest brother staggered into Ginkgo Village, Lin Jia had already killed three unlucky newbies—level one or two—and his pack was nearly full. He’d even picked up a glass ring for the eldest brother’s Taoist character, a ring that gave 0-1 spirit, though unfortunately it could only be equipped at level 7.

When the fourth brother caught up, he begrudged the eldest brother a single health potion. After finding Lin Jia, he traded over all his remaining potions—just fourteen—and also handed Lin Jia:

A pair of iron bracelets, level 3 required, accuracy +1
A pair of bronze rings, level 3 required, attack 0-1
A level 2 gold necklace, agility +1, attack 0-1
An ebony sword, level 1 required, attack 4-8, magic 0-1

While waiting for them, Lin Jia had snatched some monsters and was already a third of the way to level 2. He immediately equipped the necklace, boosting his attack to 4-9 with the ebony sword. Once he hit level 3 and put on the bracelets, he’d have 4-11 attack, plus two points of accuracy and one of defensive agility—not bad for a newbie village.

He traded all the junk in his pack to the eldest brother, who returned to Ginkgo Village to sell it and buy more health potions. Meanwhile, the fourth brother led Lin Jia up past the village to a spot where poisonous flower-belly spiders spawned. Lin Jia would strike first, then the fourth brother would gleefully hack away with his sharp iron sword. The poisonous spiders looked terrifying, their slick bodies moving faster than the many-clawed cats and scarecrows.

Their attacks were ferocious and laced with poison. A single bite nearly drained Lin Jia’s health, and he was poisoned twice, barely surviving. The fourteen health potions were spent after just seven or eight spiders. Fortunately, the spiders attacked slowly enough that, managed carefully, they could run and heal in time to survive.

When the final potion went to the unlucky, poisoned fourth brother, the eldest brother finally arrived, exhausted but triumphant, with the first batch of supplies—eighteen potions. With renewed strength, they took down a few more spiders, and Lin Jia reached level 5. He then had the eldest brother equip a candle to light the way, while Lin Jia and the fourth brother removed their own candles and followed blindly, relying on each other’s screens to navigate.

Candles provided light, and in this game, night fell regularly, plunging the world into darkness. Only those with candles could see a small, dim circle around their characters; without one, the screen was pitch black—barely even the outline of your own avatar. It truly was a night fit for murder and mayhem!

Even with a candle, players were almost blind, forced to rely on the sounds of monsters to hunt. The eldest brother led them back to the training grounds near Ginkgo Village, seeking out isolated players. Then Lin Jia would leap from the darkness to rob and kill, with the fourth brother and the eldest helping to block escape routes. A scream, a scuffle, and then they’d clean up the spoils.

After nearly an hour, there were no more wandering players outside Ginkgo Village. Everyone was holed up inside, cursing loudly. Even those higher-level players couldn’t stand up to Lin Jia’s full set of gear, the rare ebony sword, and unlimited health potions. They all eventually fell to the bandit trio, who left for the great city of Biqi laden with nearly 100,000 gold coins and assorted gear. There, Lin Jia and the eldest brother grouped up by the moat, hunting the frogs found only there until they reached level 7 and could finally enter the city to learn their new class skills.

How many trips had the eldest brother made to turn those 100,000 coins into usable cash? In the end, the fourth brother took 30,000, the eldest brother 20,000, and Lin Jia the remaining 50,000. The rationale: as a warrior, the fourth brother could withstand more damage than Lin Jia’s little mage, while the eldest brother’s Taoist could heal himself, making his leveling the cheapest of all.

“Haha! Second brother, why is your name red now? It looks so cool!” The eldest brother gazed in envy at Lin Jia’s blood-red character name after he’d started killing. Lin Jia grinned. “Probably because I’ve been killing people…”

The fourth brother, now running off to buy the level 7 Mage and Taoist skill books—“Fireball” and “Healing”—for his soon-to-be-level-7 companions, found the two of them still hacking away at frogs. He traded each a pale yellow book.