Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Who Says Changing a Name is Useless?
Today was the day Lone Ranger was the most traumatized he’d ever been.
This Duan Someone across from him was as slippery as an eel. Even though Lone Ranger was far stronger, he couldn’t do a thing to the guy.
After hugging his head in defeat for a moment, Lone Ranger straightened up and asked, "Alright, spit it out. What do you want me to do?"
Duan Fei didn’t waste words. He just cast a [Rough Healing Technique] on Lone Ranger, healing him a bit.
Feeling his Life Force recovering, Lone Ranger frowned. "You’re not just using me to grind your skill proficiency, are you?"
"You wish."
In the Abyss, there were several ways to raise a Skill’s Level. The most common method was to grind proficiency.
By repeatedly using the same Skill, its proficiency would accumulate until it met the conditions for an upgrade.
However, Skill proficiency was a hidden value. Even for the same player, the proficiency required for different Skills varied.
Some people could reach Great Success after a dozen uses, while others couldn’t even gain a single Level after hundreds.
But no matter the Skill, every one of them faced a certain threshold.
The Master Level.
Although Master Level was only one rank above Great Success, it was a major turning point for any Skill.
Even the most useless Skill would undergo an earth-shattering transformation upon reaching the Master Level.
Accordingly, reaching the Master Level required immense effort and even some related real-world professional knowledge.
It sounded difficult, but the game developers had provided an explanation for this design.
"Everyone has their own unique Talents—some of them small, even unnoticeable. For example, some people have smiles that are exceptionally comforting, while others find their intelligence increases by thirty percent while on the toilet. We designed this system in the hopes that players can discover their own strengths through the game, allowing them to better understand and accept themselves. You don’t need to follow the meta. You’re already amazing just by being your own kind of genius."
As heartwarming as that speech was, players familiar with *Abyss*’s bullshit knew the truth: the developers had clearly botched the Skill system and were just spouting a bunch of feel-good nonsense to placate the player base.
After grinding his Skill for a while, Duan Fei held out his hand to Lone Ranger. "The Forging Stone you promised me."
"Here."
Lone Ranger irritably tossed the ruby-like stone over. He watched as Duan Fei caught it and, without the slightest hesitation, slammed it into his weapon.
There wasn’t a hint of hesitation, no second-guessing—the process was so unnervingly natural that it left Lone Ranger a bit stunned.
’This guy really doesn’t hesitate about anything!’
The rusty Crowbar was instantly engulfed in blue flames.
The flames had no heat; they felt like a ball of cotton to the touch.
But their effect was dramatic. The flames licked away every trace of rust on the Crowbar, then coated it in a dark protective layer, leaving it black as ink.
The ethereal blue flames flickered for a long moment before vanishing, and a new affix was added to the Crowbar.
Opening the Crowbar’s attribute panel, Duan Fei couldn’t help but let out a curse.
"What is it?" Lone Ranger asked nervously.
He was desperately hoping the affix Duan Fei had just rolled wasn’t too good. Otherwise, his psychological trauma for the day would be enough to cover half the planet.
"It’s [Indestructible]!"
Lone Ranger quickly ran through all the affixes he knew, then recalled the effect of [Indestructible].
Indestructible. As the name implied, the Equipment itself could not be destroyed.
And that was it.
The affix was extremely rare and would be fantastic on high-level Equipment, but Duan Fei’s Crowbar was obviously starter gear. What was the use of [Indestructible] on that?
’No one would really use a piece of starter gear forever, right?’
’Right? There’s no way, right?’
Seeing Duan Fei’s excited expression, Lone Ranger’s mood instantly brightened.
’Such a clueless kid. How cute.’
Adopting a different tone, Lone Ranger said to Duan Fei, "Alright, I’ve given you what you wanted. Next, you want me to help you deal with the supernatural phenomenon so you can farm treasure chests, right?"
"Yeah, that’s the gist of it."
"Then you’re in for a disappointment." Lone Ranger chuckled. "My Profession is Shadow Assassin, which is a supernatural class. I gain certain shadow-based Supernatural Powers. As such, I have some understanding of these supernatural phenomena."
"Keep posturing. I’m all ears."
"...These supernatural things have a very interesting trait: they’re drawn to human fear. If you’re strong enough, if your fate is ’hard’ enough, they won’t even dare approach you. But for the kind of person who’s already pissed their pants before the monster even shows up, they could run into nine of them just on a trip to the corner store."
"Mm... got it."
Waving at the security camera, Duan Fei said, "Little Fatty, come on over."
"Why?!" Little Fatty’s voice yelled back through the comms.
Duan Fei didn’t need to see him to guess the look on Little Fatty’s face. He offered some words of comfort. "Relax, you won’t die."
"And you expect me to relax after you say that?! I’m telling you, I’m not going anywhere! I’ll hide even if God himself comes looking for me! And that’s final!"
"All bark and no bite. That’s our Little Fatty for you," Bald Qiang commented from the side.
"You know it."
Even without being there, Duan Fei could guess Little Fatty’s attitude.
Shaking his head helplessly, Duan Fei spoke to the monitor. "Jinghong."
"Understood."
Not another word was needed. Their years as childhood friends were enough for Jinghong to instantly understand Duan Fei’s meaning. She turned and grabbed Little Fatty by the scruff of his neck.
Turning to Jack, Jinghong asked, "Where’s the most terrifying place around here?"
"The Church next to my place. My rent’s practically free because it’s there. Oh, right, my boss had his wedding there, too."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
After tying Little Fatty up with a Yo-Yo, Jinghong dragged him into the nearby Church.
Pushing open the half-closed door, Jinghong saw a tall Daoist kneeling in prayer. Beside him, a person and a dog were nestled together, looking as though they were about to merge into one.
Literally.
They had already fused into a single, bizarre being. The human and canine parts were mashed together, making the mass of matter look utterly horrifying.
But Jinghong merely glanced at it, subconsciously classifying the creature as harmless. She felt no fear at all.
The Daoist, still kneeling in prayer, glanced at Jinghong, a flicker of astonishment crossing his face.
"You are interesting," the Daoist said. "There isn’t a trace of fear in your heart; your emotions are exceptionally faint. And yet, you possess a burning love. Two opposing forces, ice and fire, are perfectly embodied within you. You are a perfect contradiction."
"You talk too much."
"Fine. Then what brings you here? I find you quite interesting, but I have no intention of targeting you. That fellow you brought with you, on the other hand... he interests me greatly. Would you be willing to give him to me?"
"Sure. His name is Little Fatty. He’s all yours now."
"Excellent. The contract is made."
Waving at her phone, Jinghong gave the all-clear.
At the same time, having received the signal, Duan Fei sprang into action. He changed the name of the Lone Ranger beside him to "Little Fatty."
He clapped the man’s shoulder. "Get up. It’s time for you to get to work."
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