Chapter 458: Chapter 397 Phoenix Mountain: "Damn Luck King!
"Today, we pushed the mutant number to 16 in one go and made quite a splash on the world channel."
After Li Zheng and the others sat down with their pet, Phoenix Mountain spoke up, "I even saw someone saying they wanted to take you as their master."
Though the system announcement on the world channel only mentioned that Li Zheng led his team to kill the mutant number XX.
But everyone in the Matrix had no doubts about one thing.
That is, Li Zheng is definitely the main force in the team...
Phoenix Mountain expressed envy, jealousy, and resentment about this treatment, his tone a bit sour.
You can tell from his usual combat style, he actually likes being in the spotlight, but he’s turned into a side character now, mentioned in announcements as an afterthought.
"Taking a master?" Li Zheng laughed nonchalantly, "Approaching Warrior Zhan would be more effective than coming to me. I’m just a muggle; I rely entirely on good equipment to fight."
What was meant to be a modest statement ended up sounding like bragging about eating durian to the other four teammates.
Phoenix Mountain gritted his teeth and cursed with dissatisfaction, "Damn luck king!"
Yan Guang patted him on the shoulder, comforting, "Don’t be discouraged, your luck isn’t bad either. Ever since I started exploring with you, all the items have been ones I can use."
"You’re my lucky star! Mua~" As Yan Guang said this, he smacked a kiss on Phoenix Mountain’s face, making Phoenix Mountain’s old face blush like it was on fire.
Li Zheng felt some emotion about this.
Despite Yan Guang acquiring many items she can use, her actual combat power is hard to raise.
It’s all due to her mechanical arm which consumes a lot; it casually throws out hundreds of missiles, devouring gold and silver mountains.
So when exploring with Phoenix Mountain, she suffers a loss overall.
Whether it’s for Phoenix Mountain or for herself.
The two had a spat and explored separately, but not long after, they reconciled and advanced their relationship behind Yu Xiaoyu’s back.
In the evening, they borrowed the Compass from Ye Kai, and now they’re back together again.
As an outsider, Li Zheng couldn’t advise them against it, so he had to let them develop on their own.
"Actually, just consider his words as humblebrag," Zhan Zhouzhou laughed lightly and said, "You all know, I’ve sparred with Li Zheng in the training room."
"Ah, I heard from Lu Li about that. Old Li won barely," Yan Guang remembered hearing about this before.
"Exactly."
Zhan Zhouzhou shrugged helplessly, "Even as someone who practices martial arts for years, I was defeated by him in a duel, and you still believe his nonsense that he relies entirely on equipment to fight?"
"That’s not entirely true," Li Zheng argued, "You had your Gravity Necklace on at that time, so my victory was unjust."
Zhan Zhouzhou leaned back slightly, crossing her arms under her chest as she lifted them up, "In a match, winning is winning. There’s no such thing as an unjust victory. After I lost, claiming I hadn’t unlocked the necklace’s constraints was just an excuse.
In a real fight... I wouldn’t beat you. Neither in that spar nor now."
Li Zheng’s gaze was drawn to Zhan Zhouzhou, but he quickly realized the inappropriateness and turned his attention to the Mysterious Declaration.
Zhan Zhouzhou was momentarily stunned but soon put her hands down upon realizing too.
Honestly, Li Zheng admired Zhan Zhouzhou.
From when she acquired the Gravity Amplification Necklace to now, she had achieved five times gravity, and it didn’t seem to affect her daily life at all.
Especially the parts most affected by gravity remained as firm as ever.
It’s worth mentioning that Zhan Zhouzhou has participated in activities without ever releasing the gravity constraints, never going all out.
So Li Zheng wasn’t sure if he could defeat her in a full-force duel today.
The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade was still feasting on the giant mutant, and Li Zheng had to wait for it to consume all the blood before he could leave the event.
"By the way, is your live-streamed lesson still going on?" Li Zheng remembered he hadn’t practiced swordsmanship in days and was planning to take the opportunity to attend a class.
"Yes, it continues every other day," Zhan Zhouzhou sighed lightly, "Unfortunately, fewer people are watching the live streams and learning. It used to be over three thousand people, now fewer than two thousand persist."
Some people stopped midway because they found practicing swordsmanship too tough and gave up.
Others died during exploration.
Most, after entering the dungeon, never came back.
These days, the highest player mortality is not from daily exploration but from dungeons.
"Everyone has their own aspirations. Let those who don’t want to learn be," Li Zheng drew lines on the ground with his finger, leaving trails of blue-white ice crystals, "You yourself said it—just seek a clear conscience."
"Yeah," Zhan Zhouzhou nodded, "But the ones remaining are pretty good. Almost everyone has grasped Swordsmanship Mastery, and over twenty have better qualifications, already aiming for Swordsmanship Specialization. We’ll probably see results tonight."
"Isn’t that great, raising the combat ability of two thousand people? That’s quite an achievement!" Li Zheng praised, suddenly reminded of something, and his expression turned a bit grim.
"What’s wrong?" Zhan Zhouzhou asked curiously.
"You mean... nearly two thousand people started from zero and all gained Swordsmanship Mastery, and some are already aiming for specialization?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Damn...!" Li Zheng tilted his head forty-five degrees to the sky, as if to hold back his tears, "There’s one thing you did get right."
"What thing?"
"I really... have no talent for martial arts!"
Li Zheng was overwhelmed with sadness; he remembered that the live-streaming function hadn’t been available for long, yet those watching the classes, it seemed anyone was more qualified than him?
Looking back at the few masteries and specializations he obtained, two-thirds came through dubious means; only one Swordsmanship Mastery was earned after insanely hard practice for nearly ten days!
Comparing the two, the difference was obvious.
Li Zheng indeed wasn’t cut out for martial arts, and as for the so-called "Warrior" ability, he didn’t know when he’d be able to master it through his own training...
At that moment, Phoenix Mountain remembered something and asked Li Zheng, "You mentioned before something about trading items outside of the reward for winning the event. We’re so far ahead in points now, can you tell us what it’s about?"
"Yeah, Phoenix Mountain and I have both pre-traded our stuff, so you gotta at least let us know what it is, right?" Yan Guang said, "At least then, when the items arrive for trade, we can be mentally prepared."
Li Zheng had considered whether to tell the others about the Outer City tickets.
Initially deciding to keep it secret because the fewer people knew about such things, the better.
But later, he thought, even if he kept it secret now, it would be revealed on the day the event ended.
Better to mention it now, to avoid conflicts later.
"Actually..." Just as Li Zheng was about to speak, he suddenly received a private message that interrupted what he was going to say.
"Sorry, let me check a private message first," seeing that it was from Liu Qi, Li Zheng decided to see what he wanted.