Chapter 10: The Bet! If I Lose, I'll Disappear...

Puff!

As soon as I stepped into attack range, the slime curled itself up without hesitation, shooting a mouthful of viscous green acid that grazed past me.

Its acid attack failed, and the slime gathered itself again, preparing to unleash a series of attacks to eliminate the human foolish enough to disturb its sleep.

Unfortunately for it, a short dagger suddenly appeared in its eye socket, robbing it of the chance to strike again.

One stab, one pull!

Two swift and decisive movements interrupted the slime’s attack mercilessly and drained 15 hp...

Before it could recover from the piercing pain, a rusty longsword slashed from the side, piercing its green body and sending the slime into eternal sleep.

This time, the seamless cooperation came from the swiftly arriving "Lion Berserker."

As the slime collapsed, the system message rang out: "...No experience gained." Lion Berserker remained in a thrusting stance, his astonished gaze fixed on the civilian enveloped in a white glow—no, now a level 1 civilian—Scavenger Kirin.

He still couldn't understand how, with just one strike, the opponent managed to take 15 hp from the slime.

Baffling!

...

As the white light enveloped me, a wave of warmth surged through my body. In the next moment, my hp increased from 6/6 to 7/7, and three free attribute points appeared beside me.

I leveled up!

A surge of joy filled my heart. Without showing any sign, I allocated all three points to agility, quickly closed my character stats, and bent down to pick up the strong acid crystal still protected by the loot timer.

Twenty slimes, one level gained, plus eleven silver coins and seven "strong acid crystals," all within... let me see, hmm, less than fifteen minutes.

Not bad at all!

According to Bai Renjie, it took him almost half a day to level up from zero to one—though the circumstances were a hundred times harsher back then, so perhaps his account is a bit exaggerated...

From level one to level two only requires 100 more experience, so at this rate I could reach level two in less than half an hour. However...

The battles ahead won’t be any easier than snatching monsters from Comic Master.

I can tell that this player, Lion Berserker, is clearly stronger than Comic Master in terms of power—he could probably take half a slime's hp with one blow.

His movement speed is no slower than Comic Master’s, and his weapon is a sword, which has a greater attack speed advantage over an axe.

The only opportunity is to seize the initiative!

Strike before him, claim more than half of the slime's hp...

That’s why I invested all the new attribute points in agility—without speed, it’d be nearly impossible to snatch experience from him.

Once things settled, Comic Master and Lion Berserker exchanged a few words.

Comic Master departed with a venomous glare, heading to where Lion Berserker had been. Lion Berserker stayed behind.

...

"To be honest, I don’t want to make things difficult for you... If possible, I hope you’ll join our team, or leave this place." Lion Berserker’s first words to me.

Unlike Comic Master, Lion Berserker is more polite—at least he doesn’t inspire the same sense of disgust.

Sadly, I know it’s only because of the potential I showed earlier, which made him wary of me... If he were truly refined, he wouldn’t have ignored his teammate Comic Master’s behavior.

"If you want me to leave, show me your strength."

Lion Berserker hadn’t expected such direct refusal. His expression darkened, rusted longsword pointed straight at me:

"Fine, as you wish... If you can snatch a monster right in front of me, none of our seven will trouble you again..."

Staring at the longsword pointed at my nose, I smiled faintly and pushed it aside:

"Alright! One round decides everything! If I fail, I’ll leave!" Just as Lion Berserker thought—if I can’t snatch a monster, it’d be faster to train elsewhere...

"Excellent!" A glimmer of appreciation and pride flashed in Lion Berserker’s eyes as he sheathed his sword and gestured with a deep motion: "Please!"

Though it’s a single round, it’s a duel between a level 1 human and a level 6 lionfolk, blessed with power talents, superior gear, and weapons—the disparity is clear, so the choice of monster falls to me.

This single advantage, I would neither relinquish nor dare to—since this wager is inherently unfair to me, and fairness does not truly exist in this world.

Sweeping my gaze around, I recalled Lion Berserker’s earlier movements and speed, searching for a suitable target nearby...

If my guess is right, Lion Berserker not only outstrips Comic Master in power—he can kill a slime in two hits—his speed is also superior. That’s why he’s so confident in tempting me to a single decisive round.

If that’s the case, I’ll have to resort to some cunning...

...

Half a minute passed!

Lion Berserker and I still stood in place!

I quickly scanned the surroundings, my gaze lingering on the nearest slime...

Lion Berserker showed no impatience; he knew I was searching and calculating the distance to the closest slime, since only with proximity could I hope to seize the initiative.

Even so, Lion Berserker remained calm and assured, standing behind me, not even glancing at the nearby slimes, his gaze locked firmly on my eyes.

The two of us stood side by side, unmoving, our unusual behavior drawing the attention of Comic Master and his six companions nearby. One by one, they seemed to realize something and stopped their actions to watch us.

Just then, my eyes lit up!

Found it!

Almost simultaneously, Lion Berserker noticed a swift flash of light: Here it comes...

As expected!

The next instant! Both of us moved almost at the same time, darting in the same direction, one ahead, one following!

Lion Berserker was just behind at mid-body height, quickly realizing that our target was a newly spawned slime just three meters away!

At such close range, both of us arrived at the slime almost simultaneously, in the span of a single leap...

But I was the first to reach the slime!

No matter how fast Lion Berserker could react, he couldn’t always be the first—at such close range, speed alone offers no time to catch up.

Yet Lion Berserker showed no anxiety...

He had his own reasoning. After all, I was only a level 1 player—a human who could match a level 5 human in speed and attack, someone supremely confident in their technique, but whose hp was their greatest weakness.

When facing the slime’s acid spray, he expected me to dodge...

Everything happened as he anticipated...

In the instant the slime spat acid, I made a dodging move...

Lion Berserker smiled, waiting for this very moment—he lunged forward, sword flashing like lightning!

But just then, everything blurred—the opponent he expected to strike as swiftly as himself suddenly vanished from sight!

Lion Berserker’s mind trembled, and then he realized—disaster!

But it was too late; his fully committed thrust could not be withdrawn.

Meanwhile, I had already appeared next to another slime, two meters to the left...