Zongman, Rebirth of the Heaven-Defying Kirito

Chapter 37 The Legend of the Man in Black

The first level, the starting town at night.

Kenshin was walking down the streets of the town and noticed that today was busier than usual.

Is it an illusion?

In the past, players would look for stalls or shops with a purpose, but today many players stopped and gathered in a circle, as if they were discussing something.

In order to verify it, Jianxin stopped beside the players and listened.

A player dressed in swordsman style said: "Hey, I heard that a man in black appeared on the second floor. Do you know?"

"The man in black? I haven't heard of him. Tell me more."

The swordsman explained: "I heard that he suddenly appeared in the hunting area this morning. He was wearing a black cloak. We couldn't tell who he was. We only knew that he was extremely vicious."

"Extremely vicious. What did that man do? How could you describe him in this way? Did he kill someone or set the fire?"

The swordsman said mysteriously, "Neither."

"So what can be called extremely evil?"

Seeing that everyone was quite interested, the swordsman slowly said, "That person only did one thing - stealing monsters."

Everyone was quite disappointed: "We thought he was some ruthless criminal, but it turns out he was just stealing monsters. Let me ask everyone here, isn't stealing monsters to develop in the MMORPG games we played before a normal thing?"

"Yes, yes, you steal mine today and I will steal yours tomorrow. After all, resources are fixed. Where will the resources come from if we don't steal them?" Another person's opinion came from the crowd.

After hearing this, Jianxin finally understood what had happened. Perhaps because of the tight resources on the second floor, someone was snatching monsters.

I heard from others that stealing monsters seems to be a very common thing, so should I give it a try?

Thinking of this, Kenshin left the scene.

But the conversation on the scene continued.

The swordsman continued, "Then let me ask you, what do you think a monster robbery is?"

Everyone was a little confused about this question, not because they didn't know it, but because the question was too simple.

It’s as simple as 1+1=2, but when someone asks you about it, it doesn’t seem that simple.

There was a straightforward person in the crowd who said directly, "Isn't fighting for monsters just two groups of people taking a fancy to a monster and competing for the final kill?"

The swordsman smiled slightly, as if he thought this idea was too naive: "It would be great if it were a fair competition, but unfortunately..."

Everyone's interest was aroused again, and they hurriedly asked what happened.

"What a pity! Tell me quickly."

"Yeah, did the other side bring a lot of people?"

"Stop being so pretentious."

The swordsman went on to explain: "There was only one man in black, but unfortunately he used despicable means to steal monsters from other players."

"How mean?"

The swordsman continued, "From what we know so far, the man in black seems to have a skill that reduces a monster's health by a percentage. As long as the monster's health is reduced to a certain level, the man in black can snatch the monster away with one strike."

People were talking about this.

"so smart?"

"I've never seen a skill that deducts health by a percentage."

"Then this man in black has committed so many evil things, so no one is trying to catch him?"

The swordsman shook his head: "It's not that no one tried to catch him, it's that he is simply impossible to find. Every time he robs a monster, he disappears, and no one can even see his specific appearance clearly."

"Does he have an invisibility skill in SAO?"

The swordsman explained, "I really don't know about this, but various intelligence dealers have already started taking action. Many victims have already appeared. Maybe this incident will become a big deal, and they may even sue the man in black and offer a reward."

Bounty order, a punishment mechanism for individuals in SAO.

When many players are angry about a player's behavior, they can work together to pay a bounty on that player.

The names of the players being bountied will be marked in red and cannot be covered up, making them very conspicuous in the crowd.

Killing the bounty-bearing player will earn you a share of the bounty.

Since the bounty is contributed by multiple players, the amount is huge, so many players will choose to gather together to encircle and suppress the criminal.

In short, a bounty order is very dangerous for an individual and also means that the matter is serious.

The swordsman finally spoke: "So I would like to remind everyone here that if you don't have anything special, don't go to the second floor."

After saying this, the swordsman left.

Only the crowd was left discussing.

"Hey, do you think what that person just said is true or false?"

"It sounds like an urban legend. I think it's probably not true."

"Could it be that those high-level players made it up to deceive us in order to monopolize the resources?"

That's indeed possible.

The seeds of doubt were planted in everyone's hearts and then spread to the ears of other players.

Just like that, no one took the swordsman's kind reminder seriously, but many people went to the second floor just to see the 'man in black'.

None of this has anything to do with Kenshin.

Kenshin felt conflicted after learning that stealing monsters was a normal behavior.

On the one hand, Kenshin is an upright person and doesn't want to do bad things; on the other hand, he is worried about what that person said, that someone else might steal his monster.

Suddenly, Kenshin remembered his new equipment.

[Earth Core Fire: Unique Passive: Based on the value of additional attack damage and spell power, provides 50 attack damage or 80 spell power.

唯一主动：在指定位置召唤地火岩浆，1秒后喷发对半径200范围内造成100（+15%目标最大生命值）法术伤害和1秒击飞。】

There was no point in hesitating here, so a new idea came to my mind: I would go try the equipment and not steal other people’s monsters.

In fact, Kenshin had already tested the Earth's Core Fire beforehand, but he was a little confused about the casting distance of this equipment.

Kenshin first found an ordinary monster, and fought it in close combat while using the Earth's Core Fire, which was not very useful to be honest.

Instead of using the Earth's Core Fire in close combat, it is better to chop a few more times.

Then Kenshin tried to use the Earth's Core Fire to pull the monster. This method really achieved twice the result with half the effort and greatly improved the efficiency of pulling the monster.

Then comes a question: What is the casting range of the equipment Earthfire?

In Kenshin's experiments, it can be launched in close combat, from a distance of one hundred meters, or even at the end of the line of sight.

Without exception, all of them were launched successfully.

Doesn't this mean that the Earth Core Fire has a longer casting range? Jian Xin decided to give it another try.

Kenshin came to a grocery store, which sold not only recovery potions, various weapons, but even plant seeds.

Although there are many styles, the quality is not as good as those in the specialty stores of potions and weapons.

This kind of store is perfect for players who don't know what to do.

Kenshin is like this. He doesn't know how to test the Earth's Core Fire, so he comes here to try his luck.

I started looking for it...

Finally, Kenshin found what he wanted in the "treasure pile" - a monocular telescope.

With this, you can see farther away and test the true casting range of the Earth's Core Fire.