Chapter 3 A Small Test of Skill

  Parallel world! That day in class, after hearing several boys discussing the upcoming holographic technology network game, Gu Fei suddenly found hope.

  He knew what holographic technology meant. Since it couldn't be fully utilized in reality, it should be unrestricted in the game, right? Gu Fei bought a full set of holographic simulation equipment that day and decided on his profession: Fighter. "A warrior who uses every part of their body to fight flexibly." Just this one sentence of profession introduction made Gu Fei certain that this was the most suitable profession for himself.

  Unfortunately, due to a small mistake made by Ah Fa when he was a student, he became the weakest profession in the game, the least suitable for close combat: Mage.

  Gu Fei was originally disappointed, but after experiencing what just happened, he realized that the distinction between professional attributes in the game is only relative to the professional skills of the game. For himself, he already has a full set of professional skills, as long as he adds points according to his own skills, which profession it is doesn't matter.

  Of course, if you're a martial artist, the profession's attribute bonuses are more suitable for your own kung fu. However, being a mage doesn't mean you're useless, so why not be a kung fu mage yourself!

  A groan interrupted Gu Fei's contemplation, and the guy in the corner was struggling to get up.

  "Teacher!" Ah Fa didn't dare to step forward, he looked up at Fei.

  Gu Fei quickly walked over and helped him up: "How are you?"

  "It's okay, I'm fine!" The man stood up and took a deep breath. Although his face still showed signs of injury, he also exuded a scholarly air. Such a refined and courteous person, no wonder he was chosen as the target of bullying. Gu Fei and A Fa helped him to sit down by the fountain in the center of the square, where he scooped up water from the pool and splashed it on his face twice, reviving himself somewhat. Turning around, he smiled at Gu Fei: "Hello, my name is Hong Chen Yi Xiao."

  As soon as he heard it, he knew it was a name from the game. Gu Fei immediately took on his own title: "Thousand Miles of Drunkenness". This name was given by A Fa, and it sounded like that of a drunkard, which made Gu Fei feel somewhat depressed. The two shook hands, but as for A Fa, he looked like just a kid, and Hong Chenyi smiled and directly ignored him.

  "Holographic technology was first applied to online games, I knew something unexpected would happen, but I didn't expect it to be like this." Hong Chen said with a smile, tilting his head back.

  "Oh? Listening to you, it sounds like you're a game staff?" Gu Fei said.

  He was a seasoned online gamer. The term "game staff" seemed to imply endless benefits. From revealing some insider information to directly helping with top-notch equipment, this kind of unprofessional staff, when not encountered, players would despise and condemn; once encountered, they would fawn on them as if they were their own father.

  Hongchen smiled and nodded towards the sky, saying: "Today's public test just started not long ago, I heard reports that there was a group of new players relying on the profession difference in the game to beat up mages and other professions. I came to take a look, didn't expect to be beaten by the ocean myself."

  "How should this be handled?" Gu Fei asked.

  "I don't know yet." Hongchen smiled and said, "Let's see how the technical team sets it up. There are still many game issues, it seems that there is still a period of time before formal charging operation."

  Gu Fei and A Fa looked at the red dust with a smile, also raised their heads to look up. The misty fine rain was still falling, and in the blink of an eye, it wetted his face. Is this guy still washing his face? Gu Fei muttered to himself, lowering his head.

  "What are you two looking at?" Red Dust smiled and asked first.

  "What are you looking at?" Ah Fa retorted.

  "My nose won't stop bleeding, little brother!" Hongchen said with a smile.

  The two were speechless. After a while, Hongchen smiled and lowered her head, rubbing her nose and said: "Alright, I still have to go elsewhere, what about you guys?"

  "I'm going to level up!" Gu Fei said, he couldn't wait to see if the weak mage's body could unleash his skills after adding all the upgrade points.

  A Fa hesitated for a moment, then looked at Hong Chen and smiled: "I want to follow you around."

  "Little brother, I'm a self-disciplined game worker, don't expect to get any benefits from me."

  A Fa's intentions were seen through, and his face turned bright red as he stammered: "I didn't mean that, I just wanted to get familiar with you in the game."

  "Then let's go!" Kongkong laughed and turned to ask Gu Fei, "Do you want to come and get familiar with it too?" He deliberately emphasized the two words "get familiar", Ah Fa's face became even redder.

  "It's all right, you can go!" Gu Fei waved his hand at the two of them.

  After parting with the two, Gu Fei hastily rushed out of Yun Tian City and headed towards the leveling area.

  The birthplace of the city's surroundings is always the lowest level, and "Parallel World" is no exception. Even monsters don't have much novelty. They are all kinds of cute animals that look very kind, such as cats, dogs, and rabbits, which should be human friends. Moreover, due to the use of holographic technology, small animals are made to be vivid and extremely cute. These low-level little monsters can't fight back, and only a few puppies will make two sad whines after being slapped in the face.

  Gu Fei kicked a certain dog twice, but really couldn't bring himself to do it. Looking around, the eyes of the surrounding players were filled with hesitation. Some who had steeled themselves and delivered the killing blow also stopped involuntarily after receiving the disdainful gazes of others. In the training area, large numbers of players stood stupidly, staring blankly, while cats and dogs ran about wildly, rubbing against the players' legs to show affection.

  "How can we practice like this?!" A male player threw down the thing in his hand and sighed.

  "Yes, can't practice anymore! It's really too cute!" A female player put away her weapon and picked up a nearby Atu, hugging it in her arms and rubbing her face against it, saying angrily: "How does this game company plan things?! Why did they make the small monsters in the training area so cute?!"

  Everyone was grumbling and complaining about the game's planning. Gu Fei followed a few guys beside him to complain for a while, then walked away alone. Since it couldn't be done here, why not try somewhere else? That was what Gu Fei thought.

  To be honest, he has no interest in fighting with animals. The kung fu he learned since primary school is aimed at humans, and he never learned how to attack a dog's vital parts. Although this doesn't mean he can't even beat a dog, using his proud kung fu skills on a dog makes Gu Fei feel like it's not worth the many years of hard practice.

  As I continued walking along the highway, the city behind me gradually disappeared from view, and before my eyes were endless mountains. The lovely cats, rabbits, and dogs had long since vanished, and Gu Fei climbed up a mountain head to look down, where it was like a valley or a basin, in short, it was a place under the mountain slope, a bonfire burning fiercely, several despicable guys surrounding the fire heap listlessly dozing off.

  Gu Fei took one glance and judged that these few guys weren't players, but NPCs. Because even if they were six brothers from the same womb, it was impossible for them to be identical in height, build, clothing, and attire.

  Humanoid NPCs, this is exactly what Gu Fei was delighted to see.

  It should be a leveling monster, right? Gu Fei thought to himself as he slowly walked towards the small group of people.

  Six people were sitting around the fire, of course they should be keeping watch in all directions. In fact, Gu Fei should have discovered them as soon as he climbed up the mountain slope, but now it was only when Gu Fei approached to a certain distance that the six guys suddenly jumped up like they had been stung by something, pointing at Gu Fei and shouting loudly.

  Gu Fei clearly heard their voices: "Wow, a fat sheep has arrived, catch him quickly!"

  If it were an old online game, there would be a floating word on the NPC's head. Now with holographic technology, voice is used instead.

  Six people rushed up, their movements extremely uniform, their speed completely consistent, to the point where they reached Gu Fei's front line without any disarray in their formation.

  The NPC didn't waste any words and the guy in front of him charged forward with a small knife, stabbing at him. Gu Fei dodged to the side and swung his fist, hitting his mark.

  This time it's different from the fight in the city earlier. Due to PK protection, the previous fights only had simulated pain through holographic technology, nothing else. But now fighting monsters, even a mage with the weakest physical attack will still cause damage with this punch.

  He took a punch from Gu Fei and this guy just swayed, the nearly rusty small knife stabbed again, Gu Fei dodged and punched once more.

  Six guys came up together to surround and attack, Gu Fei effortlessly dodged and weaved among them, fists and feet occasionally landing on their bodies. Gu Fei didn't know what level these six guys were, but this fight was easier and less interesting compared to the ordinary brawl with four players earlier.

  Gu Fei had already been somewhat disappointed with the holographic technology. Now it seemed that it was just simulating a very realistic scene, but these NPCs still possessed the typical low AI of ordinary online games. The repetitive and monotonous attack methods were no different from those without any intelligence in Gu Fei's eyes; moreover, they didn't even understand how to actively dodge players' attacks, relying solely on hit rates and evasion data for calculations.

  It's only a matter of time before they're knocked down, Gu Fei starts to consciously distribute his fists evenly among the six guys. After another few minutes of struggling, an NPC finally let out a last angry roar filled with resentment and fell to the ground. Immediately after, three punches and two kicks, the remaining five guys were also knocked to the ground. During this time, Gu Fei's experience points flashed continuously, these unknown level monsters helped him directly level up to 6th level.