[Shadow Slash (Silver-grade): Assassin skill. Flash in a direction (up to 15 meters) and enter stealth (lasts 5 seconds), dealing 3 slashes to all enemies in the path. Cooldown 12 (10.43) seconds. Learning Requirement: Level 4]
[Slash Width: 2.1 meters. Each slash adds 100 attack power, 100% considered a backstab.]
Qin Feng flipped through the newly acquired skill book once, then learned it on the spot. The digits and description were straightforward, yet the practical implications ran deeper. If he had obtained this earlier, the Silver-grade Curser wouldn't have forced such a prolonged chase, the kill time would have been slashed by at least half.
More critically, Instant Shadow Slash wasn't just a displacement ability. It triggered stealth and dealt area-of-effect damage at the same time. For an Assassin, there were few things more outrageous than combining mobility, concealment, and burst in a single skill.
The base cooldown was listed as 12 seconds, while 10.43 seconds reflected the effect after attributes. His current 15% cooldown reduction wasn't negligible, it made the combat rhythm noticeably smoother.
"A 15-meter straight-line dash with a 2.1-meter slash width," Qin Feng murmured. "Clearing small monsters will feel like mowing grass."
Evolution would likely widen the arc and extend the distance further, but that wasn't urgent. Strength came from steady stacking, not blind rushing.
His attention shifted toward Greedy Hand. The skill had already undergone four evolutions; this would be the fifth. The previous cost sequence—1, 2, 3, 5, 8—formed an unmistakable pattern.
"So the cost rises based on the sum of the last two evolutions," he muttered. "Then the sixth evolution should require 13 evolution points."
With that guess in mind, Qin Feng consumed 8 evolution points without hesitation.
—
[You consumed 8 evolution points, remaining 4 points.]
[Greedy Hand (Emerald → diamond): Assassin skill. Can be used on monster corpses, with a 160% → 220% chance to obtain an additional loot reward. The additional loot obtained has a 20% → 40% chance to increase by 1 grade.]
—
The updated effect made him inhale sharply. Guaranteed extra loot had been strong already, but 220% guaranteed was something else entirely.
"Every kill is two bonus drops," Qin Feng calculated. "Other players would need to kill three monsters to match one of mine."
On top of that was a 20% chance for a third reward and a 40% chance for a grade increase. The profits scaled absurdly with each tier of monster slain. Greedy Hand wasn't just strong—it was snowballing into a resource engine.
Checking the next evolution confirmed his prediction: 13 evolution points. Without Greedy Hand, farming that amount would be tedious and time-consuming. With Greedy Hand, the only bottleneck became available BOSS monsters. He simply had to hunt consistently and everything else would follow.
"I still have 4 points. Better invest them into combat power first."
Qin Feng had noticed that Silver-grade BOSS could no longer be instantly executed. If he dragged out encounters with stronger monsters, combat risks would spike. Assassins couldn't afford prolonged trades.
[You consumed 3 evolution points, remaining 1 point.]
[Instant Shadow Slash (Silver-grade → Gold → Platinum): Flash in a direction (up to 15 → 18 → 21 meters) and enter stealth (lasts 5 → 6 → 7 seconds), dealing 3 → 4 → 5 slashes to all enemies in the path. Cooldown 12 (10.43) seconds.]
[Slash Width: 2.1 → 2.6 → 3.1 meters. Each slash adds 100 → 150 → 200 attack power.]
The aftermath was dramatic. Stealth duration extended, movement range widened, slash count increased, and attack power surged. Only the cooldown refused to budge.
"No cooldown reduction from evolution?" Qin Feng clicked his tongue. "A little disappointing."
But only a little. With five slashes and seven seconds of stealth, chaining the ability would achieve pseudo-infinite concealment. If he supplemented with positioning or other skills, it would become near-true infinite stealth. Burst output also climbed far beyond what the Silver tier implied.
The last remaining evolution point wasn't enough for anything meaningful. Loot inspection followed, but most of the items were irrelevant to his class. A single skill book caught his attention: a Silver-grade Warrior ability, War Cry. When activated, it increased the team's attack and defense by 20 points.
"At the early stage, doubling a team's damage and survivability is terrifying," Qin Feng remarked. "A previous-life frontline warrior with this would've been unstoppable."
Now, all it could do was fetch a price. He stored it away and stayed in stealth, sweeping his gaze around the dim forest.
The area had already transitioned into a level 4–5 monster zone. The Curser that had started at level 2 had pushed itself to level 4 by consuming lifespan, which explained the level 4 drops.
Up ahead, three hunched Crawler creatures lingered near the Curser's corpse. Their rotting limbs twitched warily as they sniffed for threats, unaware that the predator was already among them.
Instant Shadow Slash!
— 725!
— 725!
— 725!
The flash was so fast that Qin Feng's silhouette surfaced for less than a blink—0.1 seconds before reappearing nearly ten meters away. Level 4 small monsters averaged around 1,000 health, but each Crawler took two slashes in the path and collapsed without understanding what happened.
—
[You killed 'Crawler (Lv4)'.]
[You gained 80 experience points.]
[You gained 5 days of lifespan (tradable).]
[… …]
System notifications unfurled in his mind like rolling text. Qin Feng strode back to the corpses and used Greedy Hand immediately.
"No cooldown really makes a difference," he commented, hands moving fluidly. "Shame each corpse can only be looted once."
If anyone overheard him, they'd probably spit blood. A guaranteed triple-reward effect and he dared to complain? Asking for more looting attempts bordered on shameless greed.
With Instant Shadow Slash in his arsenal, his monster clearing efficiency skyrocketed. Experience, evolution points, and loot began stacking with frightening speed.
"At this pace, level 10 should take about two hours." A thin smile curved his lips as he vanished again into the brush.
…
Meanwhile, reality stirred.
Just as Qin Feng planned to hit level 10 and extract his in-game abilities into the physical world, Blue Star saw a new shift. Around the globe, players finally began reaching level 3 in batches and were forcibly ejected back into reality once they did.
Earlier, people who fell asleep gradually entered God Forsaken Game, leaving behind translucent, ethereal bodies in reality. The sight triggered panic, conspiracies, and rumors of apocalypse. Families thought their loved ones were dying; civilians suspected spiritual abduction.
But with level 3 awakenings occurring everywhere, information finally escaped the fog. The truth rapidly spread.
"After falling asleep, our consciousness actually enters a Land Abandoned by Gods?"
"God Forsaken Game? So the name was literal?"
"Fighting monsters to grow stronger? Hah! If games made you stronger, then I, Zhuo Benwei, shall conquer the world!"
"Don't laugh too soon! Most people are dying nonstop, and every death shaves off half their lifespan!"
"Then killing monsters adds lifespan… doesn't that mean immortality is possible?"
"Whether it's real or not, who has the power to force the entire planet to log in?"
"It happened in my town. There was an old man with barely any time left. He died a few times outside and then vanished instantly in reality. A death announcement popped in-game for the whole town. No clue if it meant he died here too…"
Discussion flooded every national forum. God Forsaken Game burned across the internet like wildfire, becoming the hottest headline on every site.
Jianghai City—Jianghai Normal University.
In their dormitory building, Qin Xiaoyou and Chu Yan, who had just returned from the game to rest, naturally learned of everything as well.