The Wild Boar King was a full two meters tall, but Zhao Mingwei, leveraging the agility bonus unique to his Fighter profession, leapt above the Wild Boar King!
His left hand clenched into a fist, surrounded by a crimson glow on his glove. Zhao Mingwei directly delivered a heavy punch from above straight onto the Wild Boar King's forehead.
Smash the Ground!
This was the Fighter's level 5 starter skill.
The activation condition was to leap into the air—the higher the jump, the greater the damage—with a certain knock-up effect.
Zhao Mingwei's "Smash the Ground" punch struck the Wild Boar King's head, but it didn't even cause a scratch, let alone knock it back.
However, when his fist hit the boar's head, he could clearly see ripples on the surface of the boar's skin caused by the force of his punch.
He could truly feel that his fist hit flesh, not just some system-calculated number.
Such delicate impact feedback could only be experienced in reality!
A "-7" damage number popped up above the Wild Boar King's head. The boar roared, its two-meter-long tusks thrusting upward, about to pierce Zhao Mingwei's body.
Suddenly, a long thread made of flowing water appeared behind Zhao Mingwei.
This thread pulled him backwards, moving him out of the Wild Boar King's attack range.
Zhao Mingwei glanced back and saw that the thread came from Jiang Qiao's summoned Water Spirit.
"Thanks, big bro!" Zhao Mingwei thanked Jiang Qiao.
Landing on the ground, Zhao Mingwei jumped again and this time used the Fighter's level 0 skill—Crushing Fist.
Another "-8" damage appeared above the Wild Boar King's head.
"This game's skill casting is really simple," Jiang Qiao waved his staff nearby. Currently, Jiang Qiao was taking the Elemental Summoner path.
He had learned Water Spirit and Fire Spirit; each elemental summoned creature mastered different skills.
Jiang Qiao only needed to think of the skill's name in his mind, and the system would automatically cast the skill for him.
The same applied to combat classes like Zhao Mingwei's Fighter, which required complex moves—just think the skill name, and the system completed the action.
Of course, this combat assist feature could be turned off. Zhao Mingwei had figured this out and disabled it.
But no matter how skilled Zhao Mingwei was, an 8th-level character was still pitifully weak against a level 10 Wild Boar King.
The Wild Boar King had a total of 1500 HP. Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei had been fighting it for about half an hour and only managed to reduce its HP by half.
If the boar just touched Zhao Mingwei carelessly, half his HP would instantly drop.
The boss fight's margin for error was so low that they could only afford one mistake; the second mistake meant wipeout.
Yet with Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei's coordination, the boar had only touched them once so far.
Now… the boar was about to get its second hit.
It entered a berserk state, growing spikes all over its body. It had evolved from a Wild Boar King into a Steelback Beast—no, a Porcupine King!
Zhao Mingwei never expected a boar to grow back spikes. His fist was already swinging, but it hit the spikes on the boar's back directly.
A "-7" damage number popped above the boar's head, but a "-120" appeared above Zhao Mingwei's head.
"I'm bleeding out and going into overtime. You go first!" Zhao Mingwei, with his rich MMO experience, immediately realized they would wipe.
"Got it! See you in the main city!" Jiang Qiao agreed promptly.
"Big bro, you're so quick to betray your teammates?"
"You dying doesn't mean you can't revive."
Just as Jiang Qiao prepared to run away and restart, a "+32" suddenly appeared above Zhao Mingwei's head!
'More Healing No Price Increase cast Quick Heal on Happy Game.'
'Happy Game recovered 32 HP.'
Two system messages popped up at Jiang Qiao's eye corner. He glanced and saw a female priest holding a cross finishing a spell cast.
"Got a healer? Big bro, I think we can still save this! Can you heal again?"
After Zhao Mingwei's HP rose, he rolled on the ground to dodge the boar's charge, but the bleeding status was still ongoing.
If this continued, Zhao Mingwei would die from blood loss in ten seconds.
"That heal just cost 30 copper coins, thanks. Pay up and I'll keep healing you!" More Healing No Price Increase suddenly raised her voice.
"What? Is this some roadside robbery?" Jiang Qiao thought this healer had kindly come to help.
"MP potions are free! 30 copper coins, I guarantee you won't die. Even if you do, I have Resurrection!" the priest said, looking like she wouldn't continue healing without payment.
"Can we pay after the boss fight?"
All the boss's hate was focused on Zhao Mingwei, who couldn't leave to trade.
"No!" she was resolute.
"I just sent you 60 copper coins by mail, hurry up!" Jiang Qiao quickly sent the priest mail. She checked her inbox and nodded satisfactorily.
"Alright! Pull me into the team!"
Jiang Qiao invited her into the party—a level 10 priest.
With the healer's arrival, the boss fight's margin for error improved a lot, but the trio still took half an hour to wear down the last half of the Wild Boar King's HP.
Finally, under Jiang Qiao's Fire Spirit's small fireball, the boar's spines ignited, and the beast let out a wail before collapsing.
Jiang Qiao's experience rose from 95% of level 11 to 2% of level 12; Zhao Mingwei leveled up to 9, and More Healing No Price Increase remained level 10.
"Phew…" Zhao Mingwei collapsed onto the ground.
"You okay?" More Healing No Price Increase looked at him, seeming drained.
Zhao Mingwei had been tossed around by the boar. Jiang Qiao remembered setting the world's pain index to zero.
That meant no matter how the character was attacked, no pain was felt—only red warning effects appeared to alert players.
However, some players could adjust their pain perception.
"My legs… they're numb," Zhao Mingwei said after realizing he couldn't stand, lying fully on the grass. "But it feels great…"
"That's great? That boar nearly one-shot you several times. Do you have a masochistic streak?" More Healing No Price Increase recalled the terrifying fight. Without Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei's superb operation, the three would have ended up in the graveyard.
"This is the thrill after defeating a tough enemy. I can feel it. Also, the boar dropped five pieces of equipment, all newbie-friendly. How should we split them?"
Jiang Qiao spread out his hands, and five blue equipment silhouettes floated in front of the two.
"Big bro, you pick first." Zhao Mingwei initially called Jiang Qiao "big bro" teasingly, but after this boss fight, he was in awe of Jiang Qiao's multiple saves and control of the boar's movement.
He barely understood the Holy Spirit game system, but Jiang Qiao, as a summoner, managed his two summons like he had over twenty skills.
Seven years ago playing Conflict, he probably would have immediately invited Jiang Qiao to his guild—unfortunately, no guild existed in Holy Spirit yet.
"The Radiant Cloak and Radiant Gloves. The other three you guys split." Jiang Qiao didn't hesitate to take two pieces of the Radiant set. This was a level 10 set usable by all magic-based classes.
The set effect added 20 intelligence and had a 5-second invisibility skill.
Zhao Mingwei took two of the remaining three pieces. The priest, feeling a bit guilty after charging them, didn't ask for anything. Jiang Qiao kindly gave her a necklace.
After dividing the loot, Zhao Mingwei and the priest logged off. In the real world, it was already six a.m. Jiang Qiao also logged off.
There was still one more feature Jiang Qiao wanted to test in the Holy Spirit app: a function called "Spirit Descent," which simply let game characters descend into the real world!
(End of Chapter)