Chapter Thirteen: Turmoil on the Forum

Zhang Shan removed his gaming helmet, exhaled softly, and lay quietly on the bed for a while. The new world truly was full of limitless opportunities—he had already earned ten thousand just at the start, though luck had played a significant role.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shan picked up his phone. There were three friend requests: Wind Chimes in the Breeze, Lone Rider of a Thousand Miles, and Storm Guild Secretary. He accepted them all.

Storm Guild Secretary: “Six-Barrel Bro, I’ve transferred the money to you. Please check. Also, send the video as soon as possible—the forum is going wild. *smiles*”

“Received, thank you. I’ll send it right away.”

Zhang Shan quickly extracted the video clip of trapping the boss from his gaming helmet and sent it over. In the new world, the system retained players’ game footage for fifteen days—a fantastic feature. Whenever a dispute arose, one could simply review the video and post it on the forum. Liars would be swiftly exposed, helping to create a cleaner gaming environment where cheaters had nowhere to hide.

Ding ding—

His phone buzzed. Wind Chimes in the Breeze had invited him to join the Storm Guild’s group chat.

Storm Guild: Welcome to our new guild member!

Lone Rider of a Thousand Miles: Haha, Six-Barrel has joined us! Update your nickname!

Six-Barrel Bodhisattva: Newbie reporting for duty. *doge*

Storm Assassin: A warm welcome!

Storm Blade: Welcome, welcome!

Storm Cannon: Welcome, little newbie! What class are you playing?

Six-Barrel Bodhisattva: Hunter.

Storm Cannon: Yet another rival for gear! I’m a hunter too. Not happy, *sobs dramatically*.

Storm Clear: Welcome, little newbie! Say, why’d you pick that ID? Do you really wield a six-barrel Gatling? No wonder you managed to kill the boss! *doge*

Six-Barrel Bodhisattva: “By the way, Lone Rider, we got a title for the first kill earlier. Do you remember what its attributes are? I forgot to check.”

Lone Rider of a Thousand Miles: “Man, you’re so chill—how could you forget? I took a screenshot. It’s a really useful title.”

Lone Rider of a Thousand Miles posted a screenshot in the group chat.

Title: Nemesis of the Demon Clan—Pride of Humanity, Scourge of Demons. Equipping this title increases damage against monsters by 10%.

Storm Cannon: “Whoa, that’s insane! It’s a monster-farming artifact, probably the strongest farming title out there. Is there any way to get another one? I want one too. *drooling*”

Wind Chimes in the Breeze: Haha, not bad. *mischievous*

Six-Barrel Bodhisattva: Hehe, off to eat. *doge*

Zhang Shan put down his phone, grabbed some dry rations, and dove back into the game. Things were just getting started—there was no time to slack off.

The stone was still there, but the boss was long gone. Only a few wild boars wandered in the distance.

He donned the Nemesis of the Demon Clan title and fired a shot at a demonized wild boar. When the monster drew near, he simply darted aside. With his new boots, Zhang Shan’s speed was now noticeably higher than the mobs’. He’d open the distance, fire again, then kite away—repeating this over and over until he finally brought the monster down.

Lack of gear was really a pain. It took nearly two minutes of kiting to kill a monster his own level. If only he had a weapon like Lone Rider’s axe, he could finish off a mob in a single round of kiting.

Zhang Shan was almost tempted to give up—the process was so tedious. But considering each monster was worth fifty experience and forty-five copper coins, he headed for another boar.

He continued kiting, circling back and forth, and after about ten monsters, Lone Rider of a Thousand Miles logged in as well.

“They’re not online yet?”

“No, it’s just been me.”

“Let’s go! My axe is itching for action.” With his orange axe slung over his shoulder, Lone Rider boasted proudly.

Zhang Shan sent a party invite, and with the two teaming up, their efficiency soared.

With his orange axe, Lone Rider’s combat prowess was on a whole new level. Not only did his attack soar past 150, but his health—boosted by the weapon’s 20 strength—was close to 500. In contrast, Zhang Shan’s attack was just over 50, his health not even 200, and his pitiful defense was only five. It was like a high-level player carrying a newbie through the game.

“How many levels in Falling Slash do you have now? That starter skill is pretty weak.”

“Level three. I don’t want to invest any more points—it’s just not worth it, and skill points are precious. I hope we find a good skill book soon, otherwise I’m not living up to the Berserker class.” Lone Rider complained helplessly.

Falling Leaf Slash was decent enough for beginners: maxed at ten levels, it dealt a hundred damage, which was respectable early on but would be useless later. The real issue was the scarcity of skill points. You got one per level, and even their first boss kill had only awarded one extra skill point. They had no idea how to earn more going forward. Even if boss first kills always granted points, there wouldn’t be many to go around with so many players competing. Not every day would be as lucky as theirs.

In short, skill points were precious, and Lone Rider was smart not to invest more in a dead-end skill. For every class, the gap in skill points would grow wider in the late game. Skill books might be rare, but eventually you’d get some—skill points, however, had limited sources. If you didn’t save a few now, you’d be embarrassed later if you found a valuable skill book but lacked the points to use it.

Besides, in the new world, there were no prerequisite requirements for learning new skills—at least not yet. So it was best not to waste points on weak skills.

The two chatted as they farmed. Though Lone Rider couldn’t completely shrug off damage from the mobs, it wasn’t a big problem—each hit cost him only twenty or so health, and with almost five hundred HP, he could take plenty of hits before needing to rest and recover.

“Have you checked the forum? Secretary just posted your boss-trapping video. You’re famous now!” said Lone Rider with a grin.

“Really? I’ll have a look.”

Zhang Shan opened the New World forum and quickly found the video Secretary had uploaded. It had even been featured and pinned by the forum admin.

Title: Defeating the Mighty Boar King is This Easy—Video Evidence Inside. Paid post: Ten copper per view, very cheap. Even new players could afford it, since the system gave everyone a hundred copper coins. In no time, the view count had soared past a hundred thousand and was still climbing. That was a million copper, or a hundred gold—quite a tidy sum.

Zhang Shan paid ten copper and watched the post.

The video was short: from Zhang Shan’s first shot, the boss was trapped, then he stood at the stake and auto-attacked the boss—just over a dozen seconds in total. The scene was thrilling and tense; the boss’s skill nearly hit him.

There were plenty of comments below—admiration, skepticism, jokes, and even bug reports.

“So you can play like this in New World too? I thought only bad games had bugs you could use to trap bosses. I’m out.”

“Yeah right, you think anyone can just trap the boss? My friend tried and got wrecked instantly. There’s definitely a trick, and it’s super hard.”

“Why is the boss’s name orange? Are bosses color-coded? Does that mean it drops orange gear? I want one so badly.”

“That’s not the point! The point is, how did he trap it? The video’s incomplete—must be hiding key info. Lousy Storm Guild, just scamming money. Give me back my ten copper!”

“Report! Storm Guild exploited a bug to trap the boss. The rewards should be revoked.”

“Your brain’s the real bug. The forum admin pinned this, which means the devs think Storm Guild did it legit. Stop whining.”

“Then why did the boss get stuck?”

“Who knows?”

“I’ll go try. Even if I don’t get first kill, maybe I’ll get some drops.”

“Good luck—burn some incense.”

“Can any pros analyze why Storm Guild managed to trap the boss?”

“Probably just a rare event, hard to trigger. I wish we knew the hunter’s gear and stats—if we got a hunter with the same setup, maybe we’d succeed.”

“If that’s how it works, Storm Guild could just keep exploiting the bug. So unfair! I want to report this!”

“No way it’s that simple. Otherwise, Storm Guild would’ve done the same thing in every starter village. Anyone from other villages see anything? We sure haven’t.”

“I’m heading to Boar Woods to find the boss and watch from the sidelines to see if anyone tries it.”

“Forget it. The pros have surely already tried everything. If we can think of it, others already acted. I’m going back to farming my cute little bunnies in Village 8563. Don’t steal my rabbits—argh!”

“That’s it, I’m off to farm wolves.”

“Wow, you can handle level four monsters? Poor me, still stuck killing chickens. It’s not for lack of trying, there are just too many jerks—I’ve been killed twice already.”

“Rough.”

“Latest news: the Overlord Guild sent a hundred-man team to kill the Boar King in Village 568. Total wipe! The village is in an uproar, haha.”

“No way! Overlord Guild is that weak? A hundred people can’t take down a starter boss? Even if everyone did one point of damage, that’s a hundred!”

“Just look at the boss’s stats.”

Overlord Prince shared a picture.

Image content:

Demonized Boar King: 20,000 HP, 516 Attack, Skill 1: Enhanced Charge, Skill 2: Heavy Blow.

Enhanced Charge: The enraged Boar King charges madly at its target, causing knockback and stun, with an added 1,000 damage.

Heavy Blow (Passive): Each of the Boar King’s attacks has a chance to trigger a heavy blow, dealing five times the normal damage.

“Damn, the boss is that strong? One swing per player!”

“Ridiculously powerful! How’s a starter village supposed to beat that? Even at level ten with full gear, you’d still be toast!”

“I just want to know—the Boar King is only level five. Are there other starter bosses, like level ten ones? If so, how are we supposed to win? Even the whole village together wouldn’t be enough.”

“It’s doable. Just get more witch doctors to poison it to death.”

“You’re dreaming. The boss isn’t a stationary target. Someone needs to tank it, at least survive a few hits.”

As he farmed and watched the players joke, analyze, and express their envy and spite, Zhang Shan felt a sense of pride. No matter how much they speculated, it was all in vain. He tended to agree with Storm Guild’s view: it was a rare, nearly unrepeatable occurrence. And even if it was a bug, the developers would have already fixed it. The others could only gaze longingly at the boss, sighing in envy.