Chapter 77: The Skill That Sweeps Across Armies

“Mengyao, it seems like something about you has changed.”

“Really? My dear, I don’t feel that way at all.”

“Perhaps it’s just my imagination.”

“My dear, on the contrary, I feel that you have changed compared to before.”

“Oh? In what way?”

“You used to be less talkative. You were confident then, but now you’re even more so. And you’re colder than you used to be.”

Mengyao, twirling gracefully as she danced, listed these three changes, catching Li Xin off guard. He was about to ask more when Mengyao suddenly covered her face and giggled softly. “My dear, your aura feels a little strange.”

“How so—?”

Before Li Xin could finish, Mengyao conjured a small stick out of thin air, resembling a witch’s wand from a science fiction novel. She gave it a gentle wave with her slender hand and tapped Li Xin’s forehead three times.

Ding!

[System Message]: As the first player on the server to become an Adventurer, you are rewarded with the special skill: Sweeping Across the World.

[System Message]: Your affinity with the game spirit has reached the Intermediate level. Reach Advanced for a mysterious reward—keep up the effort~~~

[System Message]: Player Yiran’s shop system has been unlocked.

“My dear, you’re off to a great start. Keep working hard~~” Mengyao spun a full 360 degrees in midair, her palace gown swirling into a perfect circle, dazzling and beautiful.

Then she transformed into a ray of light and vanished. Just as Li Xin was about to check a few things, voices sounded from ahead.

“Yiran, congratulations on becoming an Adventurer. President Zhou hasn’t personally awarded a new Adventurer’s medal in years.”

Li Xin looked up to see Zhou Hailong, Fang Zhong, Rhine, and a crowd of Adventurers all watching him.

He was still in the Adventurers’ Guild, the scene frozen just before the server maintenance. Clearly, the game had been paused and now resumed.

He smiled slightly, cupped his fists, and said, “Thank you, President Zhou, Vice-President Fang, Vice-President Rhine. I will do my best to become a true Adventurer and carry forward the Adventurer spirit.”

“Good, good, good!” Zhou Hailong laughed three times, making his fondness for Li Xin obvious to all.

This young man was truly remarkable.

The Santiago Branch of the Adventurers originally rated the Direwolf mission as S-rank, but Li Xin had completed it alone. The generous reward was given solely to him, arousing envy. So they downgraded the mission to quasi-S-rank and retracted part of the reward.

Yet when it came to Adventurer rankings, there could be no compromise. Li Xin became the first to be directly promoted to C-rank Adventurer, receiving the orange medal.

Fang Zhong and Rhine themselves only held yellow medals.

“Yiran, the reward for the Direwolf mission will be sent to you shortly. What would you like to do now?”

“Vice-President Fang, I’d like to find a place to rest for a while. I’m exhausted and need a good break.”

“All right, I’ll arrange it right away.”

Ten minutes later, Li Xin checked into the Keiston Grand Hotel, a partner of the Adventurers’ Guild. The Keiston chain was the largest hotel brand on the Jialin Continent. Although none of its branches were the most luxurious in their respective cities, with over ten thousand locations, it was a true giant of the industry.

Depending on the Adventurer’s rank, the hotel provided rooms of corresponding quality.

F-rank Adventurers received a standard single room, and up to C-rank Adventurers, who were given a deluxe single suite: a small living room outside, a large bedroom within.

After dismissing the guild staff who had shown him the way, Li Xin closed the door and drew all the curtains.

He checked his stats.

Player: Yiran
Title: Company Commander
Class: Infantry
Skills: Charge, Ten-Step Precision
Revives Remaining: 3
Honor Points: 75,435
Combat Power: 3,040
Public Approval: 5

Seeing this, Li Xin frowned. Previously, the system determined composite attributes as one per mille of Honor Points and one percent of Combat Power. Now, the standard had changed.

After some analysis, he realized that completing the main Adventurer branch quest had earned him so many Honor Points that he’d surpassed the system’s set thresholds for each stage. The recent patch had taken the opportunity to remove the composite attribute tab, assigning Honor Points and Combat Power directly under the title section.

There was no clear explanation of how the new evaluation was calculated; players would have to figure it out themselves.

“I’ll check the forums after I log out. With so many players, I’m sure someone has already worked it out.” Li Xin smiled faintly and headed for the bathroom.

Soon, he was clean and fresh; his wounds had scabbed over and would soon heal completely.

He opened the Adventurer panel; the rewards had already arrived.

[System Message]: 200,000 gold coins awarded. A set of basic Adventurer skills manuals awarded. Defensive armor: Ice Silkworm Vest awarded. Rewards have been sent, please check your inventory.

He tapped through the menus for nearly five minutes, carefully reading the entire Adventurer newbie guide. Only then did Li Xin see the full layout of the panel.

The interface was divided into two sections. On the left, personal information was displayed: rank, Adventurer points, skills, and so forth. Switching to the right side brought up the personal quest log, currently empty.

Adventurer: Yiran
Rank: C
Points: 52,000
Skills: Spinning Kick, Charge, Formation, Marksman, Sweeping Across the World (Special)

Charge overlapped with the Infantry’s own Charge, so it could be disregarded.

Spinning Kick: Leg technique, a 360-degree rotating kick that deals 100 damage to enemies.

Formation: Adventurer squad combat skill, grants a 10% group damage bonus.

Marksman: Increases shooting accuracy by 5%, range by 5%.

Sweeping Across the World: Special-level melee weapon skill, wide-area single attack—deals 30% damage to all enemies within a 5-meter diameter circle. Cannot be upgraded. Activation time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 12 hours.

“Damn!” Even usually unflappable Li Xin couldn’t help but exclaim—this skill was extraordinary, overwhelmingly powerful.

From a military standpoint, firearms were the norm; cold weapons were only suited for ambushes and assassinations. In large-scale battles, close combat was rare—usually, a few rounds of air raids and artillery would decide the outcome.

But not always. If war reached a fever pitch and both sides closed in, melee combat could erupt. In such cases, Sweeping Across the World would be invaluable.

As for Adventurers, many of their quests restricted the use of firearms. The Adventurer’s spirit was about challenge—if you just flew in and bombed your objective, the adventure and the thrill of challenge would be lost.

Thus, most Adventurer skills remained in the realm of martial combat.

If he’d had this skill earlier, facing the wolf pack, Li Xin could have wiped out 30% of their health in a single strike, making the rest of the fight much easier.

Suddenly, Li Xin shook his head with a wry smile.

“This game, ‘Odyssey,’ sets its main line as a military war game, yet its major side line is the Adventurer system. The two seem contradictory, even incompatible, but the developers have managed to blend them perfectly, each with its own system, without interfering with the other.”

“Wars continue, and the future trend will still be large-scale, player-led battles. On the Adventurer side, NPCs and players each have half the roles—it’s like a whole new secondary class, designed to let you improve your own strength.”

“The best part is that skills are universal—any skill you’ve learned can be used at any time.” As he spoke, Li Xin narrowed his eyes and reached out, grasping the air with his right hand.