Chapter 108

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Chapter 108: Boss Gold Drops, Comprehensive Strength Enhancement [12]

Pratt is a mental ability user, and one of the major characteristics of mental ability users is high offense but low defense.

This low defense has multiple layers of meaning: First, it means he has little health. Second, it means that other resistances besides mental resistance are also very low. Third, he doesn’t have any passive skills or talents that can save his life.

Therefore, when Xiao Bai Fu’s electric knife hit Pratt, the damage numbers were like shooting an enemy with a submachine gun in a shooting game, pouring out continuously.

-31, -17, -29…

Pratt clearly saw his body being sliced open by the electric knife, with the surging current burning all the flesh around the wound, causing intense pain that constantly assaulted his nerves.

He wanted to scream, but his body was controlled and couldn’t make a sound.

He wanted to dodge, but his body was controlled and couldn’t move at all.

All he could do was watch as the electric knife cut deeper and deeper, the fear almost completely drowning him. If his body couldn’t move, and this situation continued for another dozen seconds, he would die here!

To become a savior, he spent ten years gaining the trust of people in the camp and the Former Republic. He invested countless efforts in investigations, even killing his childhood friend who accidentally discovered his secret out of fear of information leakage. If he died here, wasn’t all his effort wasted?

There was no one else around, so there was no need to pretend anymore.

Driven by strong survival instincts, Pratt was pleasantly surprised to find that he could move again. Without hesitation, he delivered a mental shock to Xiao Bai Fu.

He expected this attack to loosen her grip, allowing him to escape. However, to his surprise, Xiao Bai Fu didn’t even flinch.

“You’re a bit stronger than the Rattlesnake I killed when I first arrived at the Goli Desert, but not by much. Back then, I could endure the Rattlesnake’s mental shock. Now… hoping to be stunned by such an attack is a bit too unrealistic.”

Xiao Bai Fu intensified her attack.

She didn’t care about Pratt’s identity.

The official website stated that the game “Above the Stars” emphasized freedom and player-driven plot progression. As long as players were willing, they could even eliminate a hidden main character or an entire planet’s designated destiny person. The fact that she had been gradually strengthened from a passerby to a regional boss showed that the player-driven plot progression mentioned on the website was true.

Killing was all that mattered.

Pratt gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain and rolled backward, trying to escape. But he saw a pair of feet in front of him. He looked up abruptly and saw that the owner of those feet was a woman identical to Xiao Bai Fu.

“You…”

Black Fu punched Pratt in the forehead without a word.

Pratt was sent flying. When he landed, the electrified blade fell from the sky, piercing straight into his heart.

“I can’t die, I can’t… Ah!”

-37, -12, -49!

Lethal black damage appeared, and Pratt’s body twitched several times before falling silent.

Xiao Bai Fu slowly retracted her knife, and two game prompts sounded in her ears.

[You killed Pratt, earning 100% contribution, and received 200,000 experience points after adjustments based on level difference.]

[You completed the hidden quest [It Was All a Dream].]

The first prompt made Xiao Bai Fu’s eyes light up.

For a 31st-level monster, giving her 100,000 experience was already a lot, but Pratt gave her 200,000 experience. It was no wonder he was an NPC with strong luck talent; the reward for the hidden quest must be substantial as well.

She opened the quest description and found that, due to Pratt’s ongoing growth, the base experience reward was only 500,000, but the additional rewards were beyond generous.

She gained a new talent [Immune to Instant Death], a special title [Hunter of Fates], and a rare skill [Spirit Burst].

The Immune to Instant Death talent was straightforward. With this talent, Xiao Bai Fu wouldn’t be instantly killed anymore. Even if the opponent’s output was high enough to deal multiple hits, her life would still be forcibly preserved at 5% upon the first hit.

This talent was essentially a lifesaver. Moreover, with this talent, she could proudly say she was a top-tier boss, unlike the wild bosses she had defeated before, which had nothing special except for their higher levels.

The Hunter of Fates title was also no small feat. It increased Xiao Bai Fu’s judgment success rate by 5%.

For Xiao Bai Fu, who relied on card-making for a living, this title combined with her luck talent increased her card-making success rate by 15%, which was extremely powerful.

As for the rare skill [Spirit Burst], it was also a great asset. It was a close-range active attack skill that concentrated spiritual energy in her hand and released it in a shockwave. Using it consumed 50 spirit energy per second and dealt (50 + Inspiration * 0.5) psychic damage to the target in front, with a cooldown of 1 second.

Spirit Burst’s damage coefficient was lower compared to Dimensional Erosion and Xiao Xiao Bai Fu, but its advantage was that it could be used continuously.

Xiao Bai Fu currently had a maximum of 1080 spirit energy and 105 inspiration, meaning she could theoretically output over 2100 psychic damage in 21 seconds if she went all out. This was equivalent to holding a magical shotgun.

Of course, since opponents had some psychic resistance and wouldn’t stand still to be hit, she would find it difficult to kill strong enemies with Spirit Burst in 21 seconds. However, she could let Black Fu use Battle Etiquette to control the opponent and then use Spirit Burst to hard-cast for 2 seconds, which would be enough to stack the five layers of buffs from Dimensional Erosion.

With this combo, she could deal at least 15% of the opponent’s maximum life value plus 310 pure panel damage (not counting resistance reductions).

Oh, if the opponent could ignore the control from Battle Etiquette, then this combo would be wasted.

However, regardless, with the Spirit Burst skill, both her and Black Fu’s combat capabilities, especially Black Fu’s, would significantly increase.

“This gold drop…”

Xiao Bai Fu couldn’t help but think about lighting a candle for Pratt as she looked at his corpse lying on the ground.

You’re right, buddy. The wannabe savior is a hidden main storyline in the game “Above the Stars,” set on the beginner planet Source Star. From now on, I’ll play your role and guide the player through tasks, defeating strong enemies together and gradually uncovering the truth behind the great disaster on Source Star!

Xiao Bai Fu tossed Pratt’s corpse into a pile of sand worms. Once the sand worms had gnawed him down to just bones, she drove them away and buried the skeleton deep in the desert.

“Now no one knows where he went.”

Xiao Bai Fu dusted off the fine sand on her hands contentedly.

If the player knew she had eliminated Pratt, they would likely praise her and give her a little red flower.

After all, she indirectly enhanced the player’s gaming experience. While she only wanted the player’s money, Pratt intended to manipulate the player’s sense of justice.

“Let’s go back.”

Xiao Bai Fu called out to Black Fu.

Once the matter was done, she would leave quietly, leaving no trace.

Back at the research institute, she opened her attribute panel as if nothing had happened. After eliminating Pratt, she now had 1.22 million experience points, enough to level up again.

She invested the experience, raising her rank as an Apprentice Soul Painter to Level 18. After leveling up, her constitution automatically increased by 1 point to 89 due to the effect of spirit energy. Even without the attribute boost from Black Fu, her maximum health reached 2010, and when Black Fu was on the field, she could gain an additional 60 health points.

“I have tankiness, a substitute, control, reconnaissance, percentage damage, and a close-range active attack skill. Now I just need a stable long-range output method, and I’ll basically have no weaknesses left.”

Considering the upcoming hidden main quest involving the Truth Society, the Former Republic, and the Gene Progenitor, Xiao Bai Fu decided to address this weakness.

She specifically went to take a bath and then spent a long time exhaling onto her hands before starting her face-guessing gamble card journey.

She still had 620,000 experience points left. Even if she was unlucky, she should be able to synthesize a practical long-range attack prayer card, right?

“My turn, draw cards!”

[Synthesis failed]

[Synthesis failed]

Due to Xiao Bai Fu’s strict restrictions on the type of prayer card, the failure voice rang more than twenty times before she finally received a success prompt.

This required an investment of over 200,000 experience points, but the result was gratifying.

The prayer card, Piercing Spear, could attack targets up to 2000 units away, with a range comparable to a sniper rifle. The damage was also considerable, dealing between 50 to 100 base psychic damage depending on remaining spirit energy. The only issue was that the production cost of this prayer card was relatively high.

However, for Xiao Bai Fu, who had nearly 1500 players in the “farmland,” this wasn’t a problem at all.

That settled things.

…

The next day, news of Pratt’s disappearance spread.

Xiao Bai Fu walked silently out of the research institute, followed by the player and members of the Holy Spirit Church, all with grim expressions.

They braved the scorching sun and headed west, eventually arriving at the “monster spawn cage.”

The good news was that the relics were still there, but the bad news was that the white-robed members of the Holy Spirit Church discovered signs of a battle left by the sand worms along the way.

They had a bad feeling. It was likely that Pratt had slipped out of the research institute alone last night, intending to steal the relics, but his luck wasn’t great, encountering a sand worm attack halfway.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?”

Xiao Bai Fu immediately launched an accusation, her beautiful eyes filled with coldness as she stared intently at the white-robed members.

“This…”

No white-robed member dared to speak first. Fragrant Fried Fish jumped in to break the silence.

“I always felt that Pratt wasn’t a good person. He definitely wanted to steal the fragments of black basalt from Fu Fu, but failed and got killed by the sand worms.”

All the white-robed members lowered their heads in shame.

They were extremely worried. Pratt’s actions might cause Xiao Bai Fu’s affinity towards the Holy Spirit Church to turn directly into hostility. In that case, how could they borrow the relics to save the patients in the camp?

Those patients would die!

A white-robed member anxiously raised his head: “We never thought Pratt would do something like this. Now that it’s happened, arguing won’t change anything. I know you’re very dissatisfied with us right now, but the people in the camp are innocent. If you’re willing to help save the patients in the camp, I’ll do whatever you ask. I’ll give you my money, though it’s not much, but I’ll try to earn more and give it all to you.”

Other white-robed members followed suit, expressing their willingness to sell themselves to repay their debts.

Xiao Bai Fu stared at them for a long time before sighing deeply: “Whether we sell ourselves is another matter. I need to go to your camp first and confirm the situation before deciding whether to save you or not.”

The Holy Spirit Church had to be visited, as there was still a fragment of black basalt there. As for saving people, the player could handle it. Recently, players in Silent Courtyard found daily quests and missions a bit boring, so why not give them something fresh?

Hearing Xiao Bai Fu’s words, the white-robed members were moved to tears, thanking her while cursing Pratt under their breaths for his betrayal at such a critical moment.

The players watching the scene were also touched.

[This is Fu Fu, the female bodhisattva who saves lives!]

PS: There will be another update later.

Thanks to reader 20220318193028347 for the tip.

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