In the Sun-Shrouded Forest, Jiang Yuan wandered for half a day without finding a single corrupted monster. However, after clearing out a large number of level 65-70 wild monsters for most of the day, his level increased accordingly, reaching level 64.
Taking advantage of the monster respawn interval, Jiang Yuan opened his character panel to check his current stats.
[Character Name]: Jiang Yuan [Character Class]: Nine Spirit Summoner [Character Level]: 64 [HP]: 7900 [MP]: 9800 [Magic Attack]: 1150-2480 [Physical Defense]: 950 [Magic Defense]: 1200 [Strength]: 119 (Affects physical attack and physical defense) [Intelligence]: 259 (Affects magic attack and magic defense) [Constitution]: 196 (Affects HP and HP recovery speed) [Spirit]: 224 (Affects MP and MP recovery speed) [Agility]: 115 (Affects physical and magic critical hit rate) [Toughness]: 85 (Reduces physical and magic damage taken) [Attribute Enhancement]: Fire Enhancement 10, Ice Enhancement 20, Light Enhancement 0, Dark Enhancement 0 [Attribute Resistance]: Fire Resistance 5, Ice Resistance 5, Light Resistance 5, Dark Resistance 5 [Equipped Gear]: Bone Jade Magic Staff, Zombie King's Arm Guard, Yuan Spirit Ring, Corpse King Robe, Sapphire Necklace, Cloud-Piercing Boots, Hu Tiehua's Talisman [Learned Skills]: Summon Beast Frenzy, Summon Wild Boar, Arcane Mark, Summon Beast Follow, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Ice Arrow, Soul Sacrifice
"Smack!" Jiang Yuan cast a Lightning Bolt at a "Minotaur" wild monster about five meters away. A damage number of "-3562" appeared above the Minotaur's head—less than a tenth of the damage dealt by "One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws" earlier!
"That guy's attack power must be over ten thousand, right?" Jiang Yuan muttered to himself as he looked at the damage he dealt. He couldn't figure out why "One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws" could output such high damage.
Could it be that even after switching to a hidden class, the Summoner was still the worst class?
"Ring!" The phone Jiang Yuan had tossed back by the bed rang with a text notification. He found a safe spot to log out, withdrew his consciousness from the game, and returned to reality.
Picking up his phone, he saw a photo sent from an unfamiliar number. Opening it, he let out a "Whoa!"
The photo showed a tall woman with a long ponytail and a cold, aloof expression. What really got Jiang Yuan's blood pumping was that the photo was taken by a poolside at a villa. The aloof woman was lying sideways on the poolside platform, a black bikini barely containing her impressive upper body, while her fair, long legs were especially eye-catching.
Along with the photo came a text message: "Delete it after viewing. If you dare share it, I'll kill you!"
"Damn! Is this Hamster Pudding? She's all cutesy in the game, but so fierce in real life?" Looking at the chilling murderous intent in the message, Jiang Yuan found it hard to connect the aloof woman in the photo with the loli in the game who would say, "Jiang Yuan, hurry up, I can't hold on much longer!"
"Even though she's completely different from in the game, her figure is amazing!" Jiang Yuan's gaze lingered on the upper half of the black bikini again. He whistled, then deleted the photo as Hamster Pudding had instructed.
Checking the time, it was almost midnight. To avoid messing up tomorrow's linear algebra class, Jiang Yuan turned off his computer, went to the bathroom for a shower, lay in bed playing on his phone for a while, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Shortly after Jiang Yuan logged off, "One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws" from the Proud World Guild returned to the Sun-Shrouded Forest.
"Damn! Where is he?" After searching the forest for a while without finding Jiang Yuan, One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws's face twisted with anger, his brows furrowed tightly.
He had planned to catch Jiang Yuan off guard while he was still leveling, turn on red mode, and kill that trashy Summoner who dared to compete for his monsters.
But in just a few short minutes, this guy named Jiang Yuan had vanished, leaving One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws empty-handed.
"Little piece of trash, probably logged off because he was scared I'd go red on him. Next time I run into him, I'll definitely kill him!" One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws searched the Sun-Shrouded Forest a few more times but still found no trace of Jiang Yuan. Grumbling hatefully, he found a spot to start leveling up.
The next morning, after finishing two periods of linear algebra, Jiang Yuan bolted out of the classroom the moment the bell rang, sprinting back to his dorm at full speed. He eagerly turned on his computer and logged into the bizarre world of *Myriad Realms*.
"Ding! Honorable warrior, welcome back to the Great World of Huaxia!" The familiar notification sounded as Jiang Yuan's vision cleared, revealing the scene of the Sun-Shrouded Forest.
"Huh? A corrupted monster?" Shortly after logging in, Jiang Yuan spotted a pitch-black Minotaur, several times larger than the other wild Minotaurs, standing among a group of monsters.
His gaze fell on the monster's head, and information about it immediately appeared.
[Corrupted Minotaur] Level: 75 HP: ? Defense: 3500 Attack: ? Skill: Trample—The Corrupted Minotaur stomps the ground heavily, stunning enemies within a 15-meter radius for 3 seconds and dealing damage equal to 10% of its attack power.
"So this is a corrupted monster? It even has its own skill!" Seeing a corrupted monster for the first time, Jiang Yuan said in shock. He then summoned a thousand Mang Mountain Bears and Cangyuan Wolves, issuing an attack command.
Instantly, countless cyan cross-shaped blade lights flew toward the Corrupted Minotaur, with damage numbers ranging from 3000 to 4000 popping up above it.
"Boom!" Under attack, the Corrupted Minotaur raised its thick hoof and stomped heavily on the ground. Jiang Yuan immediately felt the ground beneath him shake violently, and waves of dizziness washed over his mind.
After the Corrupted Minotaur activated its Trample skill, the nearby Cangyuan Wolves and Mang Mountain Bears were all stunned, unable to attack.
With a full two thousand summons attacking simultaneously, the Corrupted Minotaur's health bar vanished by more than half in an instant. Although some summons were stunned by the skill, the remaining ones continued to attack relentlessly. The health bar above the Corrupted Minotaur's head was about to disappear.
But just as the stun effect on Jiang Yuan was about to wear off, a white blade light struck him with pinpoint accuracy, producing a yellow critical hit damage number: -12,580.
"Damn, you're so sneaky!" Jiang Yuan's corpse lay on the ground as he watched One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws effortlessly kill the Corrupted Minotaur he was about to finish off. He roared in fury on the public chat.
One Slash Breaks Ten Thousand Laws's act of killing him and stealing the monster enraged Jiang Yuan. Since entering the game, this was the first time he had been killed by someone going red!