Chapter 98 - 77: Falling Leaves and Flying Flowers Can All Injure

Chen Jue looked at the high Skill Level notification that popped up on his panel and couldn’t help but sigh in amazement.

’To me, grinding Skill Level through actual combat is a bit like killing monsters in a video game.’

Compared to the fur and hide of small rodents like rats, the hard, bony armor of these Cleaner Fish was clearly stacked to the Max Level.

The difficulty of hunting them was like the difference between mowing down mobs like wolves and river crabs, and forming a team to take down a major boss early in the game.

’How much EXP do you get from killing small fry?’

’Only by pioneering a boss fight do you get a huge payoff.’

So, upon seeing the drained riverbed teeming with flopping Cleaner Fish, Chen Jue grew incredibly excited.

He felt like a jungler who had stumbled into a boss lair, with a field of EXP just waiting for him to harvest.

However, the group members who showed up weren’t pushovers either.

After witnessing Chen Jue’s god-like Darts skills, these well-equipped, pay-to-win players were fired up with a competitive spirit and began to pull out all the stops.

’If we can’t beat Chen Jue in skill, we’ll beat him with gear!’

If ordinary mud pellets and steel balls couldn’t pierce the Cleaner Fish’s Max Level armor, they switched to sharp, specially-made fishing spears.

If traditional bows couldn’t penetrate, they brought out compound bows and custom-made, high-poundage Crossbows with assisted power mechanisms. A single shot could pierce a steel plate!

The projectiles they fired were also swapped from practice wooden arrows to custom arrows made of high-carbon steel and fiberglass, fitted with armor-piercing heads. The power was truly astonishing!

Who cares if it’s a boss or not?

No matter how high its armor was stacked, one shot from a pay-to-win item would pierce it right through!

"Brothers! Charge!"

"We can’t let the Brother of Special Skills take all these Cleaner Fish for himself!"

After a burst of rowdy excitement, the group members spread out along the riverbank to hunt on their own.

’Are they trying to steal my kills?’

’Looks like I’ll have to hurry up!’

Seeing this, Chen Jue muttered to himself, picked up his retrieved Short Sword Dart, and immediately started searching for new targets. With another throw, he gained another +300 Skill Level.

As the atmosphere along the river grew more intense, a bizarre scene unfolded on the bank: a skilled expert in a Face Armor engaged in a solo PK match against these rich, pay-to-win players.

Darts, Crossbow Arrows, and fishing spears constantly flew into the riverbed. The whoosh of Darts and the twang of bowstrings intertwined along the riverbank.

As for the onlookers and passersby, they were swept up in the excitement of this group "jungling" expedition. Every time a Cleaner Fish was hit and hauled ashore, the crowd would erupt in cheers.

People were taking photos, recording videos, and posting to their Friends Circle. Some even asked the group members to let them borrow gear to try it out for themselves. All in all, the event was a massive success.

...

The "jungling" operation lasted for over an hour. The entire riverbed was a mess of mud and blood, and a dredging excavator began to move in to clean up.

Meanwhile, the event’s gathering point on the bank had become the place for counting spoils and recording individual scores.

Rows upon rows of Cleaner Fish carcasses covered the ground. Although the air was thick with a fishy stench, it couldn’t dampen the group members’ enthusiasm.

The commotion must have been too big, because just before the event wrapped up, even the Hang City TV Station sent a reporter to cover it.

A camera and microphone were set up to the side, and a tacky, custom-made banner was unfurled. Suddenly, the hastily assembled gathering point looked a bit more high-class.

After all, the Cleaner Fish was a notoriously invasive species. The moment it appeared in a waterway, the local aquatic life would face a catastrophic decline, nearing extinction.

For someone to voluntarily organize an event to clean them out was definitely a great public service, easily worthy of trending on local news.

"I hereby declare this event officially over!"

"In total, we eliminated 562 Cleaner Fish! You guys were amazing!"

"In first place is Brother of Special Skills with 102 kills! In second place is group member ’Student Xiao Bei’ with 56 kills! And in third..." Guo Shao, now changed into a clean set of outdoor gear, began to puff out his chest a bit in front of the TV camera.

He never expected that a casual offline event he organized would actually attract an interview from the Hang City TV Station!

If he clipped a segment of the interview and sent it to his family group chat, even his disapproving parents might start supporting his club activities, as long as they didn’t interfere with his studies.

As for Chen Jue, he kept his Face Armor on the entire time, standing aloof in the crowd like an otherworldly master. While listening to Guo Shao ramble on for the camera, he silently opened his changed Attribute panel.

Because just now, during the high-frequency "jungling" and "boss pushing," his [Hidden Weapon Throwing] had successfully leveled up from Lv5.

——————

[DING~]

[Skill Level at 100%. Maximum Skill Level reached.]

[Hidden Weapon Throwing Lv5→(Perfection)]

[Your technique for throwing Hidden Weapons has reached the current human limit. No matter the type of Hidden Weapon, you can wield it to its maximum lethality. The dexterity of your hands has increased dramatically, and the strength in your hands and forearms has grown slightly. You have gained a new, personal understanding of Hidden Weapon techniques. Your experience is now sufficient to establish your own school among humankind and spread your own way of the Hidden Weapon.]

[Strength Attribute +0.01]

[Free Attribute +0.02]

——————

[DING~]

[Through long-term observation of the Cleaner Fish’s habits, your understanding of the anatomy and behavior of this omnivorous fish of the order Siluriformes, family Loricariidae, and genus Hypostomus has deepened. When using a Hidden Weapon against it again, you will more easily find the weak points in its hard armor.]

[Title Acquired: Cleaner Fish Hunter]

[Title Effect: You can more quickly detect traces of fish activity in complex aquatic environments, discover their weaknesses, and hunt them down.]

[Title Description: Thanks to all the bros who released me into the wild... I wish you all a future without merit. In my next life, I’ll reincarnate and help you accumulate some more bad karma!]

——————

As an unfamiliar muscle memory flooded his body, Chen Jue could feel his understanding of Hidden Weapon Throwing ascend to a new level.

’I can’t believe Hidden Weapon Throwing reaches Perfection at Level 6.’

’Level 0 is Novice, Level 1 is Beginner, Level 2 is Skilled, Level 3 is Amateur, Level 4 is Professional, Level 5 is Master. After that, you form your own school?’

Chen Jue looked at the string of notifications on the panel and, combining it with his previous experiences, began to ponder the Skill Level divisions on the panel.

...

Once the interview was over, after accepting the first-place prize of 8,888 yuan in front of the TV camera and taking photos with the group members, Chen Jue slipped away as the event broke up and returned to his domestically-produced car, which he had parked far away.

After "jungling" all morning, he was covered in mud from the riverbed and reeked of Cleaner Fish. A large group of people crowded together was quite nauseating, so everyone agreed to skip a group lunch and just disperse after the event.

Before leaving, however, Wang Wei, the guy who had been helping the rich, pay-to-win sponsor carry his equipment, took a moment to watch Chen Jue’s departing figure. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this masked internet celebrity looked vaguely familiar.

’Could it be that I’ve seen this Brother of Special Skills online before?’ Wang Wei wondered, before getting into a Lamborghini with his wealthy sponsor and speeding off.

As for Chen Jue, he drove back to Wangyang Apartment, immediately stripped off his filthy clothes, and took a hot shower.

On his way out to hop the wall and eat lunch at the Jiang University cafeteria, he casually plucked a leaf that had fluttered down from a tree.

It was the transition from autumn to winter, a time of withering and renewal for the trees.

The trees on campus had begun to turn yellow and red in large patches, and fallen leaves were everywhere.

Holding the slightly stiff, yellow-green leaf between his fingers, Chen Jue felt his hands begin to itch with anticipation.

He looked up, searching for a target. When another withered yellow leaf drifted down from a large tree nearby, Chen Jue flicked his wrist, and his Max Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing] technique flared to life.

The leaf between his fingers shot through the air at high speed, perfectly splitting the falling yellow leaf in two mid-flight. Its remaining momentum carried it onward, and it embedded itself sideways into a crack in the dry bark of a distant tree.

Seeing this ridiculous scene, Chen Jue’s mouth fell open. Even he couldn’t help but curse out loud, "That’s fucking insane!"

Max Level Hidden Weapon Throwing was truly that terrifying!

It was as if the lethality of Hidden Weapons empowered by Inner Strength from martial arts novels had been brought to life.

But Chen Jue knew he didn’t have any Inner Strength. He had achieved this state—where even falling leaves and flying flowers could be used as weapons—entirely through the hand muscles he had tirelessly trained and his Perfected panel Skill.

But seeing that even a leaf could have such incredible power when he threw it, a spark of inspiration lit up in Chen Jue’s mind. He knew he now had some fresh material for his next "special skills" video.