You are far too weak!

Three unit items, all at level 2—there probably aren’t many people who own any at this stage. Unit items are extremely rare drops; to find three here was unexpected. Once on the main map, equipping units with these items would grant substantial bonuses to both attack and defense. Morale, meanwhile, affects critical hit rates and attack speed.

“Finders keepers! I’m more than violent enough myself, so my units will take the shield item.” Without a second thought, Morning Wind chose the defensive unit item. Among unit items, offensive ones are the most difficult to obtain, but since both he and his pet already possessed enough burst power, he saw no need to boost attack further. Increasing his units’ survivability was the wiser choice. After all, when units die, they’re gone for good—unlike players and pets, who can be revived.

“I’ll take the Strike Sword!” Data King quickly claimed one for himself after seeing Morning Wind make his selection, then handed the final banner to Shade. Shade was the one who needed the morale item most, which would maximize the explosive potential of his undead units.

As for Monk and War Maniac, they had only themselves to blame for falling too soon. When instance members are in combat, their bodies can’t be recovered and revived. Only after the three had distributed the unit items did Data King help them up.

“Damn it! You all took the unit items—what about us?” Monk jumped up, furious. Three unit items had dropped, and the three of them had claimed them all. Wasn’t this just bullying Monk?

Morning Wind shrugged. “There are two blue equipment pieces. Not bad…”

“Damn you, Cunning Wind! How can you live with yourself, cheating all the monks in the world? That trash gear? I wouldn’t even look at it!” Monk was truly enraged, but it was pointless—Morning Wind ignored him, and what was taken wouldn’t be returned.

Shade, content with his unit item, said, “Monk, why did you die so quickly? The three of us managed to hold out for five minutes to kill the boss. With three drops, it’s only fair we get them.”

“That’s not right! I’m not convinced!” Monk tried to protest, but he knew it was futile.

Morning Wind snapped, “Monk, if you hadn’t been killed instantly, maybe you could have shared.”

“Monk, you did well against the Troll Warden. Its loot will be yours. But you contributed nothing to the hidden boss, so that’s out of the question,” Data King said with a shrug. Monk hadn’t helped with the hidden boss at all, so he had no claim to its rewards.

“Forget it—I’m not bothered by a piece or two of gear,” Monk said, adopting an almost comical optimism. He realized he hadn’t contributed; once the boss enraged, he’d been one-shotted.

Next came the final boss. Morning Wind didn’t use his solo-kill strategy, and the five of them were wiped out by the War Behemoth. Death in the instance didn’t cause them to drop equipment, so the Magic Ring was safe. They tried once more and were wiped again; War Behemoth was simply too much for Morning Wind’s current level—besides skill, they needed better gear. A mediocre shield wasn’t enough to tank the boss.

Logging off for dinner, Morning Wind found the ladies in high spirits. Even Lin Shanshan, who normally loved to tease him, unexpectedly picked up a chicken drumstick and placed it in his bowl, leaving him somewhat flattered. It seemed her display of the divine beast had been a success, drawing much envy.

“Duan Morning Wind, last time we got the first kill in the Withered Treant instance—now you’re helping the Microdust Team get the first kill? Why don’t we form our own first-kill team? We could claim lots of first-kill rewards!” Lin Shanshan was practically bubbling with excitement, as if borrowing Morning Wind’s divine beast had made her a pro player overnight.

A team?

Morning Wind found it amusing. This petite, adorable girl was truly a dreamer. With their skills, forming a first-kill team? Even his current five-man squad couldn’t manage it, much less her group. He had no intention of wasting his time and simply said, “You’re too weak.”

“Weak? What about Sister Xinting? We’ve got a few experts in our guild!” Cheng Xue admitted her own limitations, but Zhang Xinting had a professional background and would be solid as a team member.

Morning Wind glanced at Zhang Xinting and smiled. “If your teamwork skills are decent, perhaps.”

Teamwork was vital, and in Morning Wind’s eyes, Zhang Xinting lacked it. During her time with the Sky Slash Team, she mostly played solo matches and rarely participated in team competitions. Overall, her ability to coordinate with others was poor. Morning Wind wasn’t close to her, but he’d noticed her biggest flaw was a lack of confidence—she simply didn’t believe in herself.

His comment surprised Zhang Xinting. She hadn’t expected him to notice her weakness. The main reason she left the Sky Slash Team was her lack of synergy—she didn’t want to drag her team down, so she quit. She also wanted a change of environment, hoping to improve.

Within the team, she’d developed a fear of group matches, always feeling out of step, worried she’d let her teammates down, unable to seize crucial moments, and lacking decisiveness.

“Oh? Morning Wind, you’re getting more impressive by the day! Have you recovered your memory?” Yu Jing remarked, finding his in-game performance uncanny, almost as if he were born for this world. She suspected he was faking amnesia to blend in.

“I haven’t recalled anything from before, but in the game, I feel at home. I think maybe I used to run a game studio—I feel an intimate familiarity with everything here.” He knew he needed to stay low-key, otherwise he wouldn’t seem believably amnesiac.

Hearing this, the cool and aloof Cheng Shuang shot him a look, as if deep in thought, then returned to her room after a few more bites. As the head of the studio, her responsibilities were many—managing members, handling guild affairs.

After dinner, Morning Wind went for a walk, then to the nearby gym for an hour’s workout. Upon returning, he showered and meditated, focusing on the psychic abilities within his body. After about thirty minutes, he was able to control several small iron balls to dance in the air.

Compared to before, his progress in training psychic powers was much faster. The game primarily honed his soul-splitting ability; training metal manipulation wasn’t as effective unless he frequently controlled metals in-game. It would still take time to reach his peak. Yet, in less than a month, his mastery of metal manipulation equaled a year’s worth of past effort—a testament, he felt, to the soul-splitting’s auxiliary effect.

Morning Wind longed to spar with other psychic professionals. There were few in China—besides the one he’d met before, Meteorfall, he remembered another special pro player he’d encountered in the past. However, he’d found no trace of this player despite searching.

Could he not have joined the Windchaser Team yet?

The player Morning Wind now sought possessed an ability akin to his own—a split personality psychic power. This was a dual-edged gift—lucky, but also troublesome, as it meant two souls sharing one body, and if not handled properly, it could lead to mental breakdown.

Soul-splitting and split-personality were two unique powers. Soul-splitting had no negative side effects, though it was hard to grasp. Since awakening to his power, Morning Wind had only sensed it twice—once as a tank. Split-personality was more easily sensed, especially in-game, and with strong clones or illusions, it became potent.

Remembering the existence of this split-personality player—who had yet to join the Windchaser Team—Morning Wind wanted to see him in action. So, after logging in, he tried adding the player with the ID “Rift” as a friend. He was rejected three times, but on the fourth attempt, the request was accepted.

“What do you want?” If not for Morning Wind’s recent fame, Rift wouldn’t have accepted the friend request. Why would a celebrity suddenly want to add him?

Barbarian Elemental Shaman! Morning Wind recalled that was his class, and he was right. However, Rift hadn’t learned the “Fission” hero skill yet.

“I want a match!” Morning Wind stated his purpose directly; he didn’t want to waste time, as he needed to level up quickly to reach thirty. The Troll’s Wrath dungeon was a good source of unit items. For now, only with the Orichalcum Axe could he defeat the final boss; otherwise, War Behemoth was out of reach.

“Doing a quest now; next time!” Rift seemed interested but was currently busy with quests, so promised to fight next time.

Since Rift hadn’t joined Windchaser yet, Morning Wind planned to recruit him for his own team. Once he mastered the split-personality skill, he’d be among the top hundred players in the game—a potential ally, not an enemy.

As he was arranging the duel, Morning Wind received a message from Storm Thunder’s captain, “Winds Arise,” saying the final quest for the Blood Magic Ring would be completed tomorrow night. Glancing at the quest, Morning Wind saw it would be tough. He needed to upgrade his gear and level as much as possible before then; the ring’s quest was bound to be challenging—otherwise Thunder wouldn’t have been ambushed and lost the ring at the last step.

After today’s dungeon run, Morning Wind realized he needed a powerful shield—at least one that wouldn’t be destroyed by a boss. There were no good shields at the auction, but he bought a level 23 blue shield to replace his old one and purchased thirty pieces of mithril ore to repair the Lightless Shield at the furnace. The upgrade was minimal, and it needed other materials as well. Since he’d started the quest chain, he decided to continue—but the shield seemed a bottomless pit, devouring materials. After only ten steps, he’d sunk seven thousand gold, which stung.

[Lightless Shield]
Damaged, shield, bound
Requirement: Warrior
Defense: 215
+8% block chance
+144 block value
+15 constitution
Effect: 8% chance to block an additional 50 damage upon a successful block
Repair: Eleventh step requires one dark-attribute magic core
Description: The legendary shield of warriors, said to block any attack. Sadly, it is damaged.

Defense and block values were improved, but its stats still couldn’t match his level 23 blue shield. The eleventh step required a dark-attribute magic core, obtainable only by slaying dark-attribute world bosses on the main map. For now, he was stuck on this quest. If this damaged item were a weapon, that would be something, but it was a shield—and Morning Wind, an offensive player, wasn’t fond of investing so much. Still, since he aimed to become a god-tier tank, he had little choice.

After arranging a time with Cheng Xue to continue grinding, Morning Wind decided not to farm at Serpentwind Valley, as the map had already been exposed and camping there was unsafe. This time, he asked Cheng Xue to bring a trusted player to help loot, while he used a clone alt to teleport outside the main city, transform into a crow, and fly toward the Dark Marsh. He would set a waypoint there and head over when needed.

When the guild base gathered, Morning Wind was surprised to find Cheng Xue had brought along the voluptuous young housewife, saying she played little and spent most of her time brewing potions rather than leveling.