The Fourth Calamity: People in High Martial Arts, Gods in Games

Chapter 44 The Third Batch of Newcomers

"Is the cost of robbery always this high in this world?"

Lin Qi was speechless when he heard Xia Ling's quote.

Although I knew that shielding equipment was expensive, I didn't expect it to be this expensive.

Even the most basic shielding equipment costs 200,000 bits. If you were growing blood essence rice, you probably wouldn't be able to afford that in less than half a year. And a one-kilometer shielding device is practically useless. An ordinary person could run out of the range in no time. You need at least a three-kilometer range.

Five hundred thousand bits!

This price is something that ordinary people can never even dream of in their lifetime.

That's right, an ordinary person could work their whole life and still not even qualify to be a robber...

"Three kilometers of shielding equipment, please. Oh, and also a used simple photocopier."

"Copier? Okay, I'll have someone prepare it right away. The simple copier is free. Do you need anything else? Our phosphorus fire trading market, not to mention anything else, just in the suburbs, there are few trading markets with a more complete selection of goods than ours."

"I don't need anything for now, but I'll come again if I need anything next time."

"In that case, will the 360,000 bits still be settled in cash?"

"Yes, all cash, that makes me feel more at ease."

Seeing that Lin Qi really didn't have anything to buy, Xia Ling could only clap her hands helplessly and tell the half-scaled guards at the door to prepare the shielding equipment and cash.

Before long, the half-scaled guard wearing A6-level armor came over carrying two metal boxes, one large and one small. Lin Qi told Fang Zhen and the others to move the two metal boxes onto the tricycle, showing no intention of lingering in the trading market.

As Lin Qi drove his three-wheeled vehicle away from the phosphorus fire trading market, Xia Ling, standing at the market entrance, glanced at Lin Qi and his group as they left, and her jet-black tail slapped the ground.

"Miss, these people are all very weak. The strongest among them is still several years away from becoming an apprentice." An elderly half-scaled guard standing to the side held a testing device and reported in a low voice, "I've never seen their clothes before either. They are likely a newly formed gang in the wild."

"Interesting, a small gang in the wild?" Xia Ling glanced at the large metal crate behind her and couldn't help but sigh. "What a pity, it seems this is all the crocodile teeth and rhinoceros meat they have."

"Miss, should I keep an eye on them? Since they're a small gang, they must have found the crocodile-toothed rhinoceros carcass. They should have some crocodile-toothed rhinoceros meat on hand to train their subordinates," the half-scaled guard said respectfully.

"No need. It's not worth offending a bunch of lunatics who spend all their time in the wild for a little bit of crocodile rhinoceros meat." Xia Ling shook her head. "Besides, I have so much crocodile rhinoceros meat this time, it should be enough for me to break through to become a quasi-martial artist."

"Congratulations, Miss! Now you'll be able to dominate the entire third year of the City of Light next semester!" The half-scaled guard became even more respectful upon hearing this.

Xia Ling nodded and walked happily toward the large metal box.

What flavor should we eat today?

……

It was completely dark at the Obsidian Martial Arts School.

However, the basement of the martial arts gym was a scene of great excitement.

"Before, when you said the outskirts of the city were like a futuristic metropolis, I didn't quite believe you, but now I really do." Fang Zhen excitedly recalled the scenes at the phosphorescent market. "Those weapons! That equipment! They were so cool! But do you know when we can buy them?"

"Brother Zhen, that's not the point," the Border Gunner said speechlessly. "Didn't I tell you before that we triggered a combat instance in the suburbs? It was a combat instance! Today we went to that trading market, and you saw it yourself. The Master is clearly preparing to take action against the White Feather Gang."

"I really didn't expect the combat dungeon to come so quickly. It seems that the game's development progress really depends on the Master." Ragnarok said with some regret, "I didn't prepare much this time. I've been frantically digging holes and haven't had time to improve my breathing technique. My physical fitness is only at the level of a junior apprentice. I don't know if I'll be able to get the quest."

"It should be fine. Judging from the current storyline, the enemy should have quite a few people. They can't just send a few," Fang Zhen analyzed. "Besides, wasn't the game specifically adding twenty slots for this mission? These slots are probably for testing the upcoming team dungeon battles. Otherwise, there would be no need to create twenty slots all at once."

"I guessed so." One-Shot Overlord nodded in agreement and said with a smile, "Finally, some new people are coming. I'm no longer one of the weakest ones."

Among the ten players, the top tier undoubtedly consists of Luo Wushang, Zhang Qingwei, and Yiye Fuyun, whose physical abilities have reached the level of a quasi-apprentice and who have created martial arts techniques of level four or above.

As for the second tier, it's Fang Zhen, who has just entered the realm of the Star Explosion Visualization Technique. Coupled with his physical qualities as a prospective apprentice, he is simply incomparable to players who haven't even entered the realm of the Star Explosion Visualization Technique.

The third tier consists of those whose physical abilities have reached the level of a quasi-apprentice, but who have not created any impressive martial arts techniques or even grasped the basics of visualization.

The three people following Yi Ye Fuyun were clearly casual players. Although their strength was not weak, their reaction and combat skills were significantly inferior to those of professional players. However, they were essentially the same, belonging to the third tier.

"I wonder if there are any promising talents among the new recruits this time." Fang Zhen looked at the underground detention room with some anticipation. "If our team can add a few good talents, maybe we can catch up with Luo Wushang's team."

Of the three teams, Luo Wushang's team is the strongest, with two top-tier experts that the other teams simply cannot compete with.

While Fang Zhen and the other elders were chatting, an official announcement from the outside world regarding the arrival of high-level martial arts masters was also released.

"The quota for this round has been allocated. The allocation of the next round of quotas will be announced in the next notice as soon as possible."

"That's it? Where's my spot? I can't find it?"

"It's all sent? What's going on? I just got off work, what did I miss?"

"Who has a spot they'd like to share? I'm willing to pay 100,000 and level up for 24 hours straight; I'm sure I'll get ahead of everyone else!"

"This guy is awesome, he grinded on one account for 24 hours straight. It's a pity the game developers already thought of this. Apparently, it's because the account is brainwave-bound, so other people simply can't log in."

"Hahaha, I won! I won! You can all just be jealous!"

"Damn! Another one's gone mad."

The official comments section was once again abuzz with resentment from players who didn't get a spot, all due to the system announcement.

Obsidian Martial Arts School, underground detention room.

"Wow! This technology! How did they manage to do that with the virtual engine?!"

The latest novel is first published here!

"Holy crap! This game is actually real! Am I dreaming?"

"This wall is incredibly sturdy; it actually withstood the force of twenty years of my punch!"

"The texture of this metal is just like touching it in real life, and the dust on the ground is so clear, how many kilobytes of resolution did they use?"

……

The newly awakened players were filled with curiosity about everything in the confinement room. Some of them did some silly things, which made the older players standing outside the confinement room feel embarrassed.

"This year's new recruits don't seem to be up to par." Ragnarok looked at the newbies, who didn't seem to be a single normal person, and couldn't help but worry about whether they would be able to recruit enough people.

"Fang Zhen!"

As a gasp rang out from the confinement room, Fang Zhen immediately looked toward the man who had exclaimed.

"Captain Li? What brings you here?" Fang Zhen looked at the familiar figure and couldn't help but show surprise.

He remembered that the number of people who had purchased the "High Martial Arts Arrival" was already close to 100,000, but so far no one had passed the test. In other words, those who were able to enter were selected purely by luck.

A probability of 0.02%!

What incredible luck!

Just as Fang Zhen was amazed by Li Ranxing's luck, a figure walked out from the stairwell. Dressed in a black martial arts robe, with a resolute gaze, he walked in casually, but all the elderly people present made way for him.

Seeing this, the other newbies also stopped their strange behavior and all looked at the man who was walking towards them.

Although the newbies didn't know much about the arrival of high-level martial arts, they knew from Fang Zhen's live stream that the man in front of them, Lin Qi, was the master of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy.

That's an NPC who can control player privileges. If you upset this NPC, you'll be expelled from the martial arts school in no time. Then you won't be able to play anymore and will just have to watch others happily dig holes, just like before. That would be too agonizing.

"The test has finally arrived. It was worth buying a shovel online and practicing at home every day."

"You newbies are all doomed to lose. I'm going to be number one among the newbies this time. I even studied a lot of tutorials online and went to the park to practice digging in order to learn how to dig better."

"What's that compared to what I did? When I saw that the first level of this game was digging a hole, I dug a two-story basement in my own house."

Many newcomers, seeing Lin Qi approaching, were filled with confidence regarding the test he was about to announce.

"Newcomers! Welcome to Obsidian Martial Arts Academy. I am your academy master, Lord Lin Qi. According to the rules, if you want to become glorious disciples of the academy, you must prove yourselves."

Lin Qi was quite satisfied with these eager newbies. This time, the newcomers were all young and more ambitious, clearly ready to become qualified "leeks" (a metaphor for being exploited).

"There's a register on the table. Write down your name and age, then go over there and choose your favorite little shovel. Go out, turn right, and go upstairs. The training ground is ready for you. The museum's prized Shock Breathing Technique is ready. You need to master it within twelve hours."

"The person with the highest proficiency within twelve hours will receive another of our museum's prized possessions, the Stellar Explosion Visualization Method. I hope you won't disappoint me. You may begin now!"

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(End of this chapter)