Desolate World: Starting with Novel - Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Three Slappy Ducks
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After confirming the respawn time, Wang Shuo had nothing to do, so he decided to try cultivating.
Sitting cross-legged, he took a deep breath and began.
According to the Primordial Chaos Skill’s description, Wang Shuo sat cross-legged with his head, palms, and soles facing skyward. Then he calmed himself and focused his mind. Soon, he was in a meditative state.
Suddenly, a flash of light streaked through his consciousness.
It came from a bright white light spot.
He chanted the cultivation mantra in his mind as the bright spot slowly drifted toward him.
After five minutes, a cool stream of air rushed into Wang Shuo’s glabella, then moved according to the cultivation method to his chest before disappearing.
In less than a minute, Wang Shuo found another light spot.
Repeating the previous process, he absorbed it into his chest again.
…
After absorbing the fifth light spot, a strong sense of hunger forced Wang Shuo out of his meditative state.
“A Five Grains Pill only lasts this long?”
Puzzled, he swallowed another pill and looked at the sun to check the time. Then he was back to cultivating.
During his previous experience, Wang Shuo discovered that his senses sharpened when he cultivated.
Thus, there was absolutely no need to worry about sneak attacks or ambushes. Furthermore, stopping cultivation midway had no repercussions.
This discovery made him bolder.
Suddenly, his senses detected a change.
Wang Shuo opened his eyes.
His gaze was met with three slappy ducks.
“Another one?”
Wang Shuo was shocked.
This time, it was not as simple as an extra spawn. The three monsters were standing in a triangle formation, surrounding him in the center, forming a pincer attack.
As soon as they appeared, the three slappy ducks charged in unison.
Wang Shuo was unfazed. He stomped his feet, and all the strength in his body erupted. He bulleted forward like a cheetah to the left to counterattack.
The powerful explosive force instantly widened the distance between him and the two slappy ducks behind him and on his right.
In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the one on his left.
The moment they crossed, Wang Shuo’s right hand slapped down onto its head like a slam dunk.
The slappy duck smashed into the ground, and its sawtooth-like teeth collided with each other, producing a crisp ‘kacha’!
While the attack seemed practical, Wang Shuo frowned.
His palm had landed on hard bone, so the attack did not cause any substantial damage.
But now was not the time to make up for it.
Without stopping, Wang Shuo zoomed another tens of meters. Then he turned around and looked behind him. The pincer formation had fallen apart, and the three monsters were positioned far apart.
Especially the farthest slappy duck, it was obviously slower than the first two.
Seeing this, Wang Shuo stopped in his tracks, turned around, and waited quietly.
When the first duck arrived, Wang Shuo immediately kicked it, sending it to its afterlife.
Despite the cruel execution of the first, the second duck still charged forward heedlessly. Wang Shuo naturally didn’t hold back.
With the same method, he kicked the last foolish monster into a ray of light.
After three consecutive kill prompts, his inventory received another three treasure chests.
Wang Shuo wasn’t in a hurry to open the chests but instead fell into deep thought.
“It’s been three spawns, and the number is gradually increasing. This is absolutely abnormal!”
Under normal circumstances, an ordinary adult would definitely not be a slappy duck’s opponent.
First of all, the serrated teeth of its big mouth were terrifying, and the attack power was unquestionable.
Second, it was very fast. The moment it pounced over, it was almost as fast as an ordinary dog.
Moreover, its fur was very thick, providing it with a defense that far exceeded that of ordinary animals.
The combination of strength, speed, and defense made slappy ducks fearsome opponents.
Wang Shuo stood in the shoes of his past self and came to the conclusion that he would have been dead meat if he had encountered the pincer attack then.
The reason for the pincer attack’s failure was not that the slappy ducks were too weak but that he was too strong.
A physique surpassing twice that of ordinary people was not as simple as one plus one.
His bone density, muscle strength, and even his thinking speed had doubled, making him into a mini superhuman.
Ordinary people might have the same strength after hard training, but there was an indescribable difference in reaction, motion perception, sensitivity, coordination, endurance, and many other aspects.
This was a qualitative difference, just like the difference between a cat and a mouse.
Compared to before, apart from his unchanged outer appearance, his internals were basically an entirely different species.
With this overwhelming advantage, he quickly found the slappy ducks’ weaknesses and defeated them in one fell swoop.
Wang Shuo was unsure of the other players’ strength at this stage, but since they were all newbies, the monsters they faced shouldn’t be too different.
His mind ran fast, and a guess soon surfaced in his mind.
Like other players at the beginning, he only faced a single monster in the first spawn.
It was abnormal from his second spawn.
He inferred that the number and strength of monsters that most players faced the first time should be the same.
Coupled with his speculation about this enclosed area being a newbie village earlier, he thought that the game was most likely training the players and helping them to adapt to battle.
From the information on the forum, he found that this was indeed the case.
Most players spent a lot of effort to kill monsters. Even the players who had completed double kills took an average of one and a half hours to kill a monster (one hour respawn timer).
But in general, most players could manage these monsters with their current strength.
His lucky draw of a mystic-tier cultivation technique at the start of the game directly boosted him to a level that far surpassed other new players.
The novice village monsters were no match for him. He killed each beast almost instantly, with the entire process taking less than a minute. Only the first time took much longer because it was his first time killing a monster, giving some time for the slappy duck to take its last breath.
Obviously, this failed the purpose of training.
Perhaps the game noticed this and consciously increased the difficulty for Wang Shuo. So the second time, it directly spawned two slappy ducks.
After seeing his easy victory again, the game chose to spawn three.
“According to this logic, the number of monsters should continue to increase until the battle is evenly matched.”
At this thought, Wang Shou not only didn’t have a single trace of fear but was instead excited.
He discovered that he was a combative person deep in his bones, and the upcoming challenges would serve to satisfy his desires.
His lack of battle experience didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. On the contrary, he felt exhilarated, making him more and more fascinated with the game.
But these three battles were far from enough to satisfy him. Slappy ducks were just too weak for him.
It was just like an adult fighting a toddler. A light tap and the latter collapsed. A more brutal hit and the latter was dead.
Thus, Wang Shuo was unclear about his limits.
If he could not take advantage of his newbie period to hone his combat experience, he would definitely suffer huge losses when facing evenly matched or even strong opponents in the future.
Besides, he could also take advantage of this opportunity to farm resources.
Moreover, he discovered something while cultivating earlier.
The main purpose of Five Grains Pills was not to satisfy your hunger but for cultivating.
To absorb five light spots, you needed to consume a Five Grains Pill. Otherwise, your body would find it challenging to maintain a meditative state due to hunger.
While waiting for monsters to respawn, he had absorbed 11 light spots.
In other words, it took around half an hour to consume a Five Grains Pill.
Accordingly, if he cultivated for ten hours, he would need twenty pills.
