All his life knowledge, social skills, and technical expertise were instantly drained, as if blocked from his brain. Many people have had this experience.
You want to say something, organize your thoughts, and then forget.
You pause to think again, and still forget.
You know the answer is in your head—but just can't recall it. Like facing a math problem you understand, but can't solve.
"Teacher, I swear I wasn't slacking in class, I just didn't understand!"
Politics & Diplomacy: 5 (-10)
Military & Combat: 46 (+45)
Administration & Finance: 5 (-10)
Espionage & Conspiracy: 5 (-10)
Knowledge & Culture: 5 (-15)
All abilities were lowered to the medieval average, except combat, which maxed out instantly—though Li Wei didn't quite understand what 46 in combat really meant.
Like: Xiao Ming runs 100m in 30 seconds. I run it in 60 seconds—he's twice as fast.
Usain Bolt runs it in under 10 seconds. So I'm just two Xiao Mings behind Bolt?
The result?
Li Wei's brain…
Got a bit single-tracked, He couldn't multitask. His mental OS downgraded from Zhuge Liang to Sousuke Sagara.
But his combat OS got a massive upgrade, from a 286 CPU to a quad-Titan rig.
Sea breeze blew through the coastal forest as Viking orcs set up camp. Yes, Vikings. Most came to plunder, since that's highly profitable. But some were merchants or explorers, roles that were interchangeable.
After all, gold isn't edible, and once stolen, it needs to be sold. Thus: merchants.
Merchants needed to steal first, thus: bandits.
And before stealing, someone had to scout, thus: explorers.
Suddenly, a Viking orc noticed someone walking out of the forest and called out to his comrades.
Who was it?
A tax official from a mistaken merchant caravan, a lost Viking from another tribe, someone coming to surrender, Or…
The raid's leader was a fierce orc chieftain from the Blackhand Clan—Destroyer Blackhand. Like all orcs, his bulging muscles made him hunch even when not fighting, but he still stood nearly 2 meters tall, with massive limbs and a head twice as big as any human of similar height. He brought five ships and over 120 orcs—two died at sea, but that's normal.
"By Gork and Mork," he muttered the names of the orc gods, scratching his head with a cruel grin. "What's that walking out of the forest?"
"Who knows, Maybe a lost hunter?" said a female orc—Blackhand's sister, a fierce shieldmaiden, considered pretty by orc standards. Tall and broad, she had the physique of a top-tier male human warrior. "Shall I kill him?"
"A weak human, someone go kill him, quietly... hmm?"
Orcs might look brutish, but they're clever hunters. They spend their lives fighting both humans and cunning beasts. Just like the Mongols who never studied strategy yet fought like masters, learned through hunting. Vikings and orcs were the same.
Objective: Eliminate enemy scout.
One orc soldier got the signal from the shieldmaiden, drew his bow, and fired at Li Wei.
Thwack!
The orcs were curious—why was this human walking calmly toward the shore? Like a warrior wandering through a mage battle, unbothered by the chaos.
He should've been one-shot by a stray AoE attack.
But then—shock!
Li Wei slashed the arrow out of the air with his sword.
And that wasn't even the shocking part.
"Mak'gora!!" he roared.
"...???"
To the Vikings, this was rare—especially from outsiders.
A twig-like guy walking into a camp of muscle beasts, demanding a duel?
But Mak'gora was sacred. Under the gaze of Gork and Mork, no one could interrupt. To violate it was a capital crime; even a slave could legally kill his master for interfering. Yes, orcs had laws. Where there's structure, there are rules.
After all, they all wanted to go to orc Valhalla; failures drank goat piss for eternity.
"Hmm…" the archer was now challenged. He dropped his bow, grabbed an axe and shield, and stepped forward.
All the Vikings stopped what they were doing and gathered into a circle, even the chieftain. Someone started pounding their shield, and soon everyone joined in, shield bashing, foot stomping, clapping.
Primitive beatboxing, perhaps the earliest form of "heavy rhythm"?
"Mak'gora!" the orc soldier growled in return as he faced Li Wei.
"WAAAGH!!!"
Then he charged like a small tank.
Li Wei's body moved on its own.
Earlier, in a flash of rage, he'd cut down the incoming arrow.
Now, using the orc's momentum, he flipped the brute over his shoulder. No sword needed. The orc landed headfirst—neck snapped. Li Wei stepped forward, drew his blade, and lopped off the head.
Looted the body; packed the gear in his backpack.
It was smooth—like slicing vegetables.
"Ooooh!!" A collective gasp from the orcs, Then, more rhythmic clashing of weapons and shields, honoring the sanctity of the duel.
Funny thing—same pirates, same robbers, same unreasonable barbarians…
Yet somehow, these ancestors of modern bandits still had some code of honor.
They robbed the weak, yes; but at least followed the rules.
Compare that to their descendants: lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping, murdering, and calling it "ambition" or "success."
"You…!" A Viking orc in the crowd seemed to want to rush out
"Don't be impulsive, Newlon." Another Viking orc grabbed his companion and said "Your brother died in a glorious duel, He will go to see Brother Gork and Brother Mork! You can't ruin this sacred duel; it won't be good for anyone!"
The orc, gnashing his teeth and trying to rush out, glared at Levi fiercely: "Human, tell me your name! We will be enemies forever!"
If he gets revenge in the future, the mouth of the Seine will be stained with blood!
The Vikings' instinctive thought was, this was a brave human, but that bravery only went so far, a one-on-one duel meant the opponent had the right to walk away with their spoils, basking in glory and praise, To challenge them again at this point was out of character for the Vikings, but a feud was a matter of course, and revenge was inevitable.
Unfortunately, this is just what the Vikings think.
"Makgora..!"
Levi was also puzzled, was the one who was about to rush out the number two contestant assigned by the system?
His intelligence didn't drop, but his thinking ability plummeted, just like an i9 processor that was suddenly installed with a downgraded win95 system. The computing power was exceeded, but the computing content was severely restricted - there were many things he couldn't think of.
Even the emotion of being overly afraid was suppressed.
As Big brother said "this is a good thing."
It will be fine if you add some intelligence back later.
But now the mission is complete, that skill is really useful. He yelled "Makgora" and people from the opposite side surrounded him.
"???" A Viking orc named Nylon had just had his brother Fussark killed and his head taken. He was furious, but Viking duels had a rule of "don't take advantage of someone's vulnerability," otherwise it would turn into a brawl, So, he couldn't initiate a duel, at least not for three days, unexpectedly, the opponent didn't respond, but instead challenged him repeatedly.
"Very well, I admit you are a warrior, human!" Finally, no one could stop the Viking orc named Nylon. He immediately picked up his hand axe and shield and rushed out of the crowd. Pointing his hand axe at Levi, he shouted, "I am Nylon, the eldest son of the great warrior Ivar the Bloody Hand! - Tell me your name!"
...Forehead.
What is the orc on the opposite side complaining about?
Don't you know that it takes time to switch translation software?
"He doesn't understand what you are saying, he probably only learned 'Mak'gora'." A female warrior shouted at the side.
"Ah, zug-zug! (I know!)" He muttered impatiently to the female warrior, and then began the warrior's charge "Damn——Mak'gora! Wagggggggh!!!!"
The orc warrior roared and rushed over again, but this time he was more cautious and kept some strength in reserve.
It's no use.
The combat power of an ordinary human warrior is about 5.
The combat power of the orc warrior in front of him can reach 15, which is far superior to that of humans.
Levi's combat power is 46.
All the efforts, struggles, hard work and abilities in life turned into a cold, broken number - that's good, if it hadn't turned into numbers, Levi would have been dead by now.