This was reality, and they cannot change it.
Their only hope had not arrived even after a long time passed. At this time, the group wanted to hide in a restaurant and not go out to meet anyone. There was no way they will actually log off like Dream Clouds told them to watch the battle replay of themselves being slaughtered.
"Say, don't you think Happy's lightness skill is a little uncanny? I saw myself hitting him, but… I just don't get it."
The group sat in the restaurant dejectedly while they drank. Occasionally, they grumbled, and their topics all circulated Happy.
It would have been better if they did not mention him, because once they did, someone could not understand what happened. "You're not the only one. I don't understand it myself. Yesterday, I even deliberately watched his tournament battle replays one and a half years ago at the Sword Among Us Tournament. He might be strong, but it's not the point where he can fight against both of us at the same time. Why is he so strong when he reentered the game? It's like all the training I did over the past year is useless."
"Is there some sort of reward when you reenter the game?"
"Reward, my foot. The official developers have already clearly stated that it's impossible for them to give any sort of reward. The only good thing they get is that the person will return to the peak of their condition when they last played."
While the group talked to each other, someone suddenly said something, "Say… do you think that this is related to him running into Master Xuan Kong at Mount Song? I heard that the guy cleared Master Xuan Kong's quest on the first day he reentered the game and won the exquisite Go game that no one has managed to win after five years. Could he have gotten some sort of technique and doesn't need to practice it to become good at it?"
The group fell silent, but they came to a sudden realization!
They got closer to each other excitedly.
"Right. If you didn't mention it, I would have forgotten about it."
"When he grabbed us, it was insanely accurate. That move might seem like Dragon Claw, but when I think about it now, it's definitely not Dragon Claw!"
"There's also the move he used to dodge our attacks! Could it be the same technique?"
"There's a high possibility for it!"
The group chatted, and they managed to somewhat guess Happy's situation. In the end, someone rushed outside to get a reading of Happy's specific situation.
But when they investigated him, they noticed something that they did not expect.
Chapter 953 - Happy’s Change
"What did you just say? Say it again!"
The Class One Hall members stood in front of the diviner's stall, and the muscles on their face twitched. They were basically unable to believe their ears.
The ones who stood further outside the group could not help but ask the diviner their question again.
While diviners demanded a hefty fee from players if they were asked to provide detailed information about another player, they were not stingy when they were asked to repeat their words. He stroked his long beard and answered, "The Moksha Realm martial artist you're searching for has indeed obtained an ultimate technique a few days ago. The other abnormality about him is that once he fell from Punishment Mount, he has a handicap on him."
"A handicap" was the professional term diviners used once players died and received their death penalty. This meant that the player had been weakened. The players looking for their details will have to pay even more money to look further into how much they were weakened.
However, that sentence alone was enough to deliver a huge shock to the Class One Hall elites.
It was already bad enough that they died in Happy's hands.
At the very least, Happy used his full strength and was nearly killed by their Grieving Needle, or that was what they believed, because the diviner had clearly told them that Happy fell off a cliff and died a few days ago. His status had been reduced by ten percent, and this was something they cannot accept. This was as bad as someone suddenly telling them that their opponent had not fought at their full strength after they suffered a setback against their opponent and that he was just toying with them.
The group was in an incredibly bad mood.
Perhaps some players will not mind dying once, but as their attributes grew stronger and their fighting abilities increased by leaps and bounds, the players would become stronger, and the stronger a player was, the effect of being weakened will also become even more obvious.
The punishment for dying in battle once was a ten percent reduction in their attack, defense, speed, recovery speed, and even attack speed.
They could not even defeat Happy when he was injured, and here they were, wondering about whether Grieving Needle will torment Happy to his death.
At that moment, this group of prideful elites had extremely sour expressions on their faces. No longer had the mood to bother about other matters. They returned to the restaurant quietly, got themselves some wine, and drank.
He Yi wanted to send the message to Dream Clouds, but when she thought about the scale of the incident this time, the hall master would have definitely investigated everything about Happy clearly. He could not help but have his heart turn cold, and he said falteringly, "My friends, the situation isn't good for us…"
"We've already fully embarrassed ourselves. How much worse can the situation go?"
The group did not even bother looking at him.
"It's precisely because we've humiliated ourselves too much. If the people outside learn that we can't even kill an injured Happy and all of us died in his hands…"
The group jumped up like cats with their tails stomped. Their faces were filled with alarm and fear.
"Are you saying…"
"That the hall master already knows?"
"She might have even learned about it online, which is why she told us to immediately log off to watch the battle replay…" He Yi smiled in anguish.
If this news spread out, Class One Hall might suffer even greater humiliation.
*****
The worries and assumptions from He Yi and the others were not wrong.
Dream Clouds had indeed seen the entire process where He Yi and his group were killed by Happy. At that time, she did not pay too much attention to it, because she just wanted to get more information about Happy, since the length of the battle replay this time was rather long.
But she did not expect that Happy's information would be attached at the end of the battle replay as well!
Someone bought all of Happy's information from a diviner, and a line of red words that were typed out pierced into Dream Clouds' eyes.
'A handicap?!'
This discovery caused Dream Clouds, who had been shocked by Happy's strength, to have her expression change on the spot. She quickly scrolled down to look at the comments, and her expression turned even darker.
"'Awesome… What amazing moves…'" Dream Clouds practically said those words through gritted teeth.
"Ring…" Her phone rang.
She cast a glance at the caller, and Dream Clouds answered the call without hesitation, "Did you see it as well?"
There was silence on the other side.
After a while, a faint sigh filled with emotion was heard. "I didn't expect that he will still be so powerful even after one and a half years has passed."
The voice on the other side was clearly from Blood Robes.
The two were still connected, and by the looks of it, their relationship was still the same as before.
"You're wrong." Dream Clouds stared at the snow mountain outside with a dark expression. Her tone was cold. "In the past, I never regarded Happy as anyone of any importance."
Blood Robes fell silent once more on the other side.
What Dream Clouds said was true.
Before Happy fell into a coma, Dream Clouds already had great power, and there were not many people in the Chinese server who can stop her from doing anything.
At that tim
e, she just needed to send Five Venoms, and she managed to weaken Happy, who had been incredibly powerful at that time, to his lowest point.
But Blood Robes' situation was different from Dream Clouds.
Dream Clouds liked watching a person's personal achievements, so she paid more attention to Happy's battle talent and skills. Hence, she decided to attack him during the Sword Among Us Tournament. She used Xu Yao by telling her about a message that did not exist and formed a misunderstanding when she temporarily lost her way to contact Happy. Then, with just a few more words, she practically destroyed Happy from the soul itself.
"Are you saying that right now, he made you feel threatened?" Blood Robes remained silent for ten seconds before he spoke up again, "Or are you saying that he's making you angry?"
Dream Clouds kept quiet for the time being. Her expression became one of calmness, and she said while she thought things through, "Right now, I can't be certain. I only have a hunch. This Happy doesn't give me the feeling that he's someone who has been in coma for one and a half years."
"I've already asked for confirmation about his information from his attending physician. Besides, over the past one and a half years, Xu Yao has been taking care of him all along."
Blood Robes thought that Dream Clouds was skeptical about Happy being in coma, and he immediately gave that reply.
Dream Clouds s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and stood up before she said, "I'm not wondering about that. I'm just wondering whether he was actually conscious over the past one and a half years."
"Conscious?" Blood Robes's tone became grave.
"That's right." Dream Clouds nodded. "It's too much of a stretch for a person who has been in coma for one and a half years to be able to immediately enter the game once he wakes up and even catches up to the rhythm of the game. His personality has also changed drastically. He's unlike the comatose person who was driven mad by you. It doesn't make sense."
Blood Robes sank into deep thought once more.
He had actually thought about what Dream Clouds told him. It might seem unbelievable, but he had never suspected the truth of his understanding through his investigation and the information he secured.
"Are you saying that he might actually have been awake over the past one and a half years…?"
"This is where I am not certain, but the feeling Happy is currently giving me is too strange," Dream Clouds answered.
"I have a basic understanding of what happened at Mount Song. He cleared the exquisite Go game very quickly, and he was very resolute in his actions, even if he used Life and Death Realm moves against a Moksha Realm player.
"Also, on the first few days he returned from the game, his qi increased very quickly, and it was much faster than the pace in which he leveled up one and a half years ago.
"Besides, he used the idiots from Blood Alliance to make himself famous, and he quickly got attention for himself, making many players remember what happened in the past. Then, he was smoothly able to reserve items that are worth one hundred million taels of silver.
"Furthermore, even when he fought against Class One Hall, he knew not to hide his strength and bide his time, because it will do him no good. Hence, he used Fu Tianqiong to push him to the center of the storm so that he will be in the limelight, and by doing so, he secured his fame.
"Moreover, his speed in farming for money is astonishing. He spent one hundred million taels of silver for that Recondite Steel Heavy Sword and unique sword technique. Do you think that he had such a sharp mind in the past? Would he have spent his time farming money?"
"Last, and this is his most frightening aspect. He did all this maintaining his injured status."
When she said this, Dream Clouds s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and said, "The battle today is actually a gamble Happy has been waiting for all this while."
"Oh?" Blood Robes gasped in surprise.
"If he wins the gamble, he will rise to fame, just like now. Regardless of Blood Alliance or Class One Hall, we cannot deny Happy's strength and reject his strength and status as a top-class elite in the Chinese server.
"And even if he loses the gamble, it doesn't matter to him. He can still tell the world that he's injured, and even if he's killed by so many famous people from Class One Hall, it will not damage his current fame.
"But Happy won! He has already proven his strength, and it's enough to threaten us. At the same time, he will attract many sects into offering him positions in their sect. I heard that Wind Assault Tower's Phantasmal Shadow has long been making preparations to draw him to her side. Even if we fight against him at full strength, we might end up forcing Happy into Wind Assault Tower, and with Wind Assault Tower's protection, he will continue fighting against us."
Dream Clouds' explanation caused Blood Robes to be ill at ease.
"Could it all just be a coincidence? Happy isn't that smart, and he doesn't have such a sharp mind on his shoulders. If he truly joins Wind Assault Tower, he will grow up even faster, and by then, things will be truly troublesome!"
"That's why I said that this man is no longer the same. The situation is completely in his control. He can now choose to attack but also defend. As for us, we were humiliated, and we can't even attack him publicly regardless of the cost to get rid of him."
"Should we have Five Venoms attack again?"
Dream Clouds smiled coldly. "Now? Five Venoms managed to succeed in the past because we set up a meticulous plan, and Happy was not prepared for it. But even so, he managed to kill more than one hundred people at that time. Do you think that Five Venoms will have the chance of killing him again?"
She stopped talking for a while before she said, "Besides, Illusion Life and Death Pills are no longer goods that are in short supply. There are too many treatment methods and medicine that can help people get rid of the injured status. The price for it has also dropped. Even if we reduce Happy to nothing, we will only suffer losses from it."
"Are we supposed to do nothing and let him continue getting stronger until he can attack us?" Blood Robes was a little frustrated.
Dream Clouds' tone suddenly changed. "I'm not thinking about doing nothing.
"Last time, because of this matter, quite a lot of people came to fight against our sect, yes? They only gradually stopped after you left Class One Hall. Since Happy has decided to place himself in a safe shell, all we need to do is to force him to show himself."
Chapter 954 - It’s Me
In Ghost's Domain was a wide valley with eight spiders and scorpions. Hunter Clan and Happy had started training there, and their training started progressing positively.
The entrance to the valley was already set up with more than thirty continuous traps, and they were set up close to each other. There were also some hidden traps set up by the sides of the entrance. Half an hour passed into their grinding, and no one bothered them.
Mu Qi was right. The Eight-eyed Parasitic Spider was indeed very good. Every time the small spiders it released were massacred, it will release another cl.u.s.ter of ten once in a while. Each of them also possessed strength that was not weaker than those in Inaction Realm. With their mother, which was at the peak of Inaction Realm, they were actually pretty good training targets. It was also an excellent training spot for those with profound supportive martial arts like Wind Spirit Spin and All-direction Agility.
The outer shell of those scorpions were incredibly sturdy. Even if he struck at full force with Great Demonic World Destruction Art, it was difficult for Happy to deal any substantial damage. Happy moved about the scorpions and spiders. Sometimes, an attack by the side grazed at him, and the protective cover from Indestructible Body, which enveloped his body, would shudder madly.
These were different from the attacks from the prisoners in the branch. These spiders and scorpions attacked with the intent to kill, and there was a dense number of them. While Happy moved about, he attracted dozens of attacks on himself, and they easily damaged his body fortification to the point that it started swaying
.
If it were not for Tendon Changing Classic being able to provide qi quickly and the fact that Happy had prepared an astonishing number of medicinal pills before he came here, he will not dare to do something so risky.
Great Demonic World Destruction Art went charging at the scorpions around Happy, and it leveled up quickly.
His Illusory Cave Steps, which he just bought recently, improved very slowly.
The group of people at the other side of the valley gradually became numb to this sight.
It was not that they had not seen Happy's training method before. Many elite players loved using this sort of extreme grinding method. They will lure a bunch of enemy NPCs to themselves and move about to train their lightness skill as well as their martial art in an unrestrained manner. At the same time, they will not dodge the attacks around them so that they can increase their body fortifications at the fastest speed possible.
But this sort of training method was very dangerous, and they will consume a lot of medicinal pills. Even those who were famous in the game cannot maintain this state for long. If they trained like this for a day, the number of medicinal pills they took would be worth more than one million.
The grinding method Hunter Clan chose was the more common route other players chose.
A group of people would be in charge of withstanding the scorpion's attacks, while most people rained down their attacks without worry. Then, over a long and calm environment, they will slowly level up their martial arts.
Scorpions were enemy NPCs with incredibly sturdy skins and shocking defense. It was not a monster that was easy to defeat, and it can endure attacks for a long time. The amount of EXP it could provide was the same as a group of Inaction Realm prisoners in a sect prison. Hence, the scorpion was highly sought after by many players not affiliated to any sect or were not important members in a sect.
There were benefits to the common method.
It was safe, did not make the players spend a lot of medicinal pills while fighting them, allowed them to save up, and was relaxing. They might be able to chat with each other occasionally.
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