Chapter 7: Soldier Slave

Zhou Yan’s heart tightened with alarm.

His opponent was already charging at him. This one seemed smarter than the previous attackers, leaping nimbly to clear three trap shoelaces at once. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Zhou Yan.

With a thud, Zhou Yan drove his shield into the enemy’s chest, sending the man stumbling backward. Without pause, Zhou Yan raised his shield and, with his off-hand, swung his axe fiercely at the man’s neck.

The blade bit deep, unhesitatingly slicing into its target.

Done!

Zhou Yan’s eyes were fixed, certain of his victory.

But in the next instant, his eyes widened in disbelief. Despite the axe striking a vital spot, the opponent showed no sign of pain. With a savage swing, he brought his bat around from the right, tracing a half-arc, aiming at Zhou Yan’s side with the force of a home run.

In desperation, Zhou Yan ducked low and angled his wooden shield to block.

A thunderous crash echoed as the bat struck the shield. The tremendous force drove Zhou Yan back, slamming him hard against the wall. The wooden planks strapped to his left arm shattered and fell in pieces, their service ended.

A metallic taste flooded Zhou Yan’s throat, pain coursing through his body, his pupils quivering. Even with multiple layers of thick clothing and his life gear reducing the impact, he still felt battered. Had he not worn protective gear, that one blow would have left him gravely injured.

But there was no time to think. The opponent, with the axe buried halfway in his neck, charged at him with inhuman ferocity.

The distance between them vanished in an instant.

Another monstrous swing came, like a home run strike. In a flash, Zhou Yan rolled on the ground, dodging the attack by the narrowest margin.

The bat crashed into the wall, shattering it in a violent explosion. Plaster sprayed everywhere, revealing the broken bricks beneath.

Zhou Yan, nerves taut, sprang to his feet the moment he finished rolling, then lunged forward. He tackled his opponent just as the bat was being withdrawn.

He grabbed the axe lodged in the man’s neck and yanked it free.

Blood sprayed like a fountain.

At that moment, the bat swept at him once more from the left, bringing a fierce wind with it. But Zhou Yan was ready; as he pulled out the axe, he rolled away.

He gritted his teeth and stood up swiftly, right hand gripping the axe, eyes locked intensely on his foe.

The opponent struggled up, face twisted in rage, and charged at Zhou Yan again.

The next second, under Zhou Yan’s cautious gaze, the madman’s steps faltered after two strides. He collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

[Kill “War Thrall,” gain 42 Spirit]

[You obtain “Rune Factor: Spirit”]

“Hah! I thought you were some kind of immortal!” Zhou Yan finally relaxed, unable to hold back the pain and groaning aloud. “That was nearly a disaster…”

It took him a while to recover, his expression bitter.

The other armed lunatics he’d dispatched had either been felled instantly by an axe to the head, or toppled by the shield and then finished off. They all died quickly when struck in a vital spot, just like ordinary people.

But this burly bat-wielder—his neck almost severed—still ignored his injuries and continued to attack with terrifying force. Completely unexpected.

Zhou Yan took a deep breath, steadying his racing heart, and began to reflect.

The power behind that bat swing far exceeded what his earlier opponents could muster. Had he not prepared, worn enough layers, and ensured adequate protection, relying only on the thin life gear tight suit would have left him gravely wounded, even if he managed to kill the opponent.

After all, the life gear only shared half the damage, not increased his defense. Whether it was the gear or Zhou Yan himself, a solid hit could still cause damage.

The gear could be repaired with Spirit, but Zhou Yan himself had no means to heal his own wounds.

Wait, what about the gear’s durability…

He quickly opened his panel and saw that after this battle, the gear’s durability had dropped significantly.

[Durability: 52/100]

Damn, it lost half its durability!

He sucked in a cold breath and immediately used Spirit to repair it.

A few seconds later, the gear was restored.

During this repair, Zhou Yan remained silent.

The blow that shattered his wooden shield had likely fractured his left forearm; pain radiated continuously, a stark warning against underestimating his enemies.

Ultimately, it was his lack of experience, unstable mindset, and unrefined skills. When the unexpected happened, he failed to react in time.

He couldn’t help but mutter to himself:

“Remember this lesson…

“In the future, I’ll likely face life-and-death struggles like this often… If I lose, the consequence is death.

“Don’t use ‘lack of experience,’ ‘insufficient training,’ or ‘momentary lapse’ as excuses for comforting myself…

“I might be able to fool myself, but my enemy will never show mercy.”

Zhou Yan’s gaze grew resolute.

In the end, it was a matter of strength.

If he could swing an axe powerful enough to decapitate his enemy in one blow, he doubted they could retaliate.

He raised his head, his eyes dark and determined.

The same truth remained—

He needed more strength.

*

With his mindset adjusted, Zhou Yan began to tally his spoils.

The previous “small fry” dropped nothing, only granting him a few dozen Spirit. The real prize was the last one—the burly man already corrupted by his weapon into a “War Thrall.”

This one yielded almost four times the Spirit value of a typical minor foe.

But the total, nearly a hundred Spirit, was mostly consumed by his intense exertion during battle and the subsequent durability loss from heavy blows, leaving little surplus.

Now, his Spirit stood at “174.”

But what mattered most was that the defeat of the War Thrall had finally dropped the coveted “Rune Factor.”

[Rune Factor: Spirit]

[Rating: 0-star, Tier 1]

[Effect: Attach to life gear, increases Spirit bonus by 1]

[Note: I… I can feel it!]

“Looks like killing these ‘elite’ types has a higher drop rate,” he mused, immediately extracting the rune.

A moment later, a small rune emitting blue light, somewhat similar to the “Physical Rune,” appeared in his palm.

Zhou Yan glanced at it, then pressed the rune to his chest.

[Attach “Rune Factor: Spirit” to life gear? (Can be removed at any time)]

Confirm!

The rune was absorbed slowly by the reinforced suit.

Zhou Yan’s “Spirit” attribute, under the gear’s effect, increased from “9” to “10.”

He shivered involuntarily.

It was as if all his senses had been expanded and endowed with a strange new capacity.

The world, once ordinary, now seemed filtered through a new lens.

He could “see” the corpses of the armed attackers he’d slain, wrapped in a faint, eerie aura. The source of this aura was the weapons they had gripped tightly even in death.

Especially the War Thrall’s corpse—his hand, entwined with black-red veins, clenched a bloodstained, terrifying baseball bat, around which the aura almost manifested as a visible red glow in Zhou Yan’s eyes.

Was this… second sight?

Zhou Yan’s mouth twitched. He hadn’t expected that reaching “10” Spirit would awaken such a power.

After a moment’s adjustment, he walked toward the War Thrall’s corpse.

***