Chapter 4 – Put On the Mask, Feel the Rush!
[Return Countdown: 20:00:00]
Ruins World.
After several hours on the road, noon arrived without anyone noticing.
"Take a break where you are; we move again in half an hour!"
Lu Cheng's voice rang out from the front. Exhausted, the Refugees hurried to find shade, sitting down to rest and eat.
At the rear of the column, Lin An walked up to a kindly-looking middle-aged man.
"Brother, I've never been to Little Stone Pool Village—think we could be going the wrong way?"
Lin An asked casually, handing over some wild fruit he'd just picked.
The man took the fruit and chuckled.
"You asked the right person. Don't worry—I've walked this road at least eight, maybe ten times. We're not lost."
Lin An gave a slight nod.
Looks like some locals still know the way. The Pseudo-humans probably realized that too, which is why they didn't bother leading them astray.
"From the look of you, you fled here from some far-off village, right?"
The chatty man rattled on: "Relax—barring accidents we'll reach Little Stone Pool Village before dark. From here on it's only level-one or -two Iron Fist Rabbits, and with Lord Lu around those bunnies won't dare act up."
Iron Fist Rabbits?
Lin An's interest spiked. If he could farm those rabbits for levels, his odds might improve.
"Brother, how do you spot their tracks so I can steer clear?"
"Easy. Walk the forest and you'll see little fist-shaped pits in the ground; just follow—"
"Let me tell you, back then I…"
Talking with the garrulous uncle made the half-hour fly by.
Still, Lin An learned plenty. When Lu Cheng called for the march to resume, he already had a rough plan.
The survival column set off again, but thirty minutes of rest wasn't enough; soon people began falling behind.
Lu Cheng paid no heed, striding ahead as though desperate to reach Little Stone Pool Village.
That surprised Lin An, yet he decided to stick to his own scheme.
They pressed on.
Spotting the first fist-sized pits at the forest edge, Lin An began hamming it up, feigning fatigue and drifting to the rear.
The talkative uncle shot him a puzzled look but said nothing and kept walking—after all, a casual acquaintance's life mattered less than his own.
"OK, time to grind!"
Once the others vanished ahead, Lin An willed a vivid cat face mask into his hand.
Put it on—Agility +3.
Now he looked like a new breed of monster, and he felt fantastic.
Put on the mask—feel the rush!
His body felt lighter. Following the fist prints, he slipped deeper into the forest.
Agility, Strength, Endurance and Resistance all fall under the umbrella stat: constitution.
The player panel shows only the composite "constitution" rather than the sub-stats; it condenses everything into Spirit, Energy, and Vitality.
Moving through the trees, Lin An felt like a cat: light, silent, curious yet wary of this hyper-real game world.
The trees here were species unknown on Blue Star—any trunk needed two or three people to encircle, and their crowns pierced the clouds.
The tracks grew fresher; soon a rabbit the size of a medium dog appeared.
Its forelimbs were literally iron fists—thick, metallic, gleaming. One punch would shatter a frail human's bones.
He opened his panel to scan.
[Iron Fist Rabbit
Level: 1
Vitality (constitution): 6
Energy: 0
Spirit: 3
Talent: None
Skill: Iron Fist Strike – charge up for heavier damage.]
At equal level, the scan revealed far more.
Against the level-three Pseudo-human he'd seen nothing; anyone five levels higher would probably show only "???."
"Even a bunny gets a skill—and its body stat beats mine?"
Lin An grumbled. For an average player, killing it would be tough.
But a high-body, low-mind mob was exactly his favorite target.
Hallucination—activate!
The mask's cat-eyes flashed coldly.
The rabbit panicked as if facing death itself and slammed head-first into a nearby trunk.
Crack!
It keeled over, motionless.
[Killed level-1 Iron Fist Rabbit, EXP +10%.]
[Disassemble?]
"Yes!"
[Obtained: Rabbit Hide x1, Edible Rabbit Meat x5.]
No chest dropped this time—either low odds or none in this world.
"So monsters that appear on Blue Star will be hot commodities," he mused; the Man-Faced Cat gift-bag had promised a guaranteed chest there.
He stowed the loot. Identical items stack, so even with two primary recovery potions his bag still had room.
"Same-level mob: 10% EXP. One level higher: 50%."
"If I off that level-three Pseudo-human, will I level up outright?"
He considered it, then chose the safer route.
The Pseudo matched his Spirit; the mask might not work, and its skills were unknown.
He zipped through the outer forest and soon spotted more rabbits—this time a whole nest.
The largest was already level 2.
[Iron Fist Rabbit
Level: 2
Vitality: 8
Energy: 1
Spirit: 4
Talent: None
Skill: Iron Fist Strike.]
"Did this bunny dump every point into body?"
he wondered. Still, low Spirit meant easy prey. He cast Hallucination again.
Pop! Pop!
The ensnared rabbit saw a mortal foe; its eyes blazed scarlet and it smashed a haymaker into its little kin.
Thud!
[Killed level-1 Iron Fist Rabbit, EXP +10%.]