The pre-dawn hours found Luo Luo already stirring from his makeshift bed, eager to check on Ye Xiu before returning to the Bamboo Staff. However, when he descended to the main floor, he discovered his "brother" still deeply engrossed in dungeon clearing, fingers dancing across the keyboard with mechanical precision despite obvious fatigue.
"Brother Ye Xiu, it's already dawn—time for the shift change," Luo Luo observed, noting the exhaustion lines around the older man's eyes.
"Ah, Luo Luo. Give me a few more minutes to finish this instance," Ye Xiu replied around a yawn, his hands never pausing in their rhythmic dance across the controls. Despite his words, sleep deprivation was clearly taking its toll.
"How about I take over? I can help you clear this quickly, and there's something I need to discuss with you afterward."
"You sure you can handle it?" Ye Xiu asked with gentle skepticism.
"Brother Ye Xiu, have you forgotten how I demolished that opponent last night?" Luo Luo's confident grin carried the infectious enthusiasm that only true gaming prodigies possessed.
Ye Xiu's tired expression brightened with genuine amusement. The boy's talent was undeniable—with proper familiarity and study, he could easily reach professional-level play within months rather than years.
"Your turn then."
As Luo Luo settled into the still-warm chair, he immediately noticed the team composition on screen. Ye Xiu's character "Lord Grim" was partnered with someone using the ID "Sleeping Moon"—currently preparing to tackle the Spider Cave dungeon.
The moment Luo Luo donned the headphones, Sleeping Moon's voice filled his ears with detailed tactical instructions:
"Move carefully through the cave—don't accidentally pull extra monsters. Did you remember to bring antidote potions?"
Luo Luo ignored the commentary entirely, muting his microphone to focus on the gameplay itself rather than social coordination.
"Hey, hey—Lord Grim, are you listening?" Sleeping Moon's voice carried growing irritation as his tactical briefing met with silence.
The player quickly discovered that Lord Grim's microphone had been disabled, cutting off all communication.
"Look, I'm trying to help you here—" Sleeping Moon began, only to be interrupted as a dark shape dropped from the cavern ceiling with predatory precision.
What happened next would have impressed professional-level players.
Despite having familiarized himself with Glory's mechanics for less than twenty-four hours, Luo Luo had spent the night mentally rehearsing control schemes and combo sequences. The boy who took over from Ye Xiu that morning already operated at near-expert levels.
The ambushing spider met Luo Luo's mouse flick with surgical precision—Lord Grim dodged the attack flawlessly and delivered a counterstrike that eliminated the threat in a single devastating blow.
"Amazing, Luo Luo!" Ye Xiu's approval carried genuine surprise at the rapid improvement.
"Hahaha… looks like I got talent for this!" Luo Luo replied with casual confidence, executing a sweeping attack that drew every monster in the immediate area toward their position.
"One-hundred-eighty-degree sweep pulling full aggro—you're insane!" Sleeping Moon's voice cracked with disbelief through the headphones.
Rather than respond to his teammate's panic, Luo Luo maintained perfect focus, his hands moving in synchronized harmony across mouse and keyboard. Every monster fell with mechanical efficiency as he simultaneously cleared threats and familiarized himself with Lord Grim's available skills.
"Luo Luo," Ye Xiu said thoughtfully, "Lord Grim is only level ten—still far from job advancement. But with your hand speed, you might be able to attempt the Aerial Quadruple Thrust."
"Aerial Quadruple Thrust?"
"Exactly. Four consecutive strikes while the enemy is airborne—normally a Battle Mage exclusive technique that requires job advancement. However, with sufficient hand speed, even an unclassed character can execute it."
Ye Xiu's explanation carried the patient tone of a master instructing a promising student. "Combine basic Consecutive Thrust with the Dragon Fang skill, plus the level-ten Double Thrust ability. If your APM is high enough, you can complete all four strikes on a floating target."
The technique sounded deceptively simple, but the execution demands were staggering. Even job-advanced Battle Mages with professional equipment and class bonuses needed hand speeds exceeding 170 APM to pull it off consistently. An unclassed level-ten character would require inhuman dexterity.
"Ye Xiu, you can't seriously be—" Chen Guo's voice carried sharp disapproval as she emerged from upstairs, having overheard the entire exchange.
As a five-year Glory veteran whose idol was the legendary Battle Mage "One Autumn Leaf," Chen Guo understood the Aerial Quadruple Thrust's difficulty better than most. The idea of teaching such an advanced technique to a child who'd started playing yesterday bordered on irresponsible.
"I'll give it a try," Luo Luo said simply, his fingers already positioning themselves for the complex input sequence.
Chen Guo's prepared lecture died in her throat. This was madness—a technique that challenged even veteran players, attempted by someone barely familiar with basic controls.
What followed redefined her understanding of gaming talent.
After a brief period familiarizing himself with the combo timing, Luo Luo executed a flawless Aerial Quadruple Thrust, eliminating the entire monster pack with a single devastating sequence.
"This... this is completely ridiculous!" Chen Guo stammered, her worldview crumbling under the weight of witnessed impossibility.
The gap between individuals wasn't just about practice or dedication—some people operated on entirely different levels of natural ability. Chen Guo, with five years of dedicated play, had suffered fifty-two consecutive defeats just hours earlier. Luo Luo, with less than a day's experience, was casually performing techniques that should have taken months to master.
As the regular monsters fell, the dungeon's primary boss made its dramatic entrance—a massive, aggressive spider that skittered forward with predatory intent.
Luo Luo remained perfectly composed, making no attempt to coordinate with his teammates. Lord Grim advanced alone to engage the boss in single combat.
"He's not seriously planning to solo the boss, is he?" Sleeping Moon's voice carried stunned disbelief as he watched Lord Grim charge forward without backup or communication.
While his teammate questioned basic sanity, Luo Luo was already deep in combat with the arachnid monstrosity. The Aerial Quadruple Thrust became his signature move, executed repeatedly with mechanical precision until the boss collapsed in defeat.
Immediately afterward, the game's global announcement system proclaimed Lord Grim's team as the first to achieve Spider Cave boss clear.
Sleeping Moon and his companions immediately pivoted from skepticism to shameless flattery, attempting to curry favor with their obviously skilled teammate. Their efforts met only silence from the mysteriously competent Lord Grim.
Ye Xiu smiled at the social dynamics playing out on screen. It wasn't that Lord Grim was being rude—his player simply couldn't respond without revealing his age to adults who'd just witnessed a child carrying them through content they couldn't handle alone.
Before they could progress further, another system announcement declared the appearance of a hidden boss within the same dungeon.
"Luo Luo, want me to turn on the microphone so I can communicate with the team?" Ye Xiu offered helpfully.
"No, Brother Ye Xiu. I want to test my limits."
Lord Grim immediately began walking toward the hidden boss location, once again ignoring team coordination entirely.
"Hey, You can't possibly be planning to solo the hidden boss too!" Sleeping Moon's voice cracked with resignation. At this point, the rest of the team felt more like spectators than participants.
Luo Luo paid no attention to the protests, engaging the hidden boss in what would become a masterclass in adaptive gameplay.
During the previous encounters, he'd discovered the Unspecialized class's greatest advantage: universal capability. Before job advancement, Unspecialized characters could utilize any professional skills, while Lord Grim's unique weapon—the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella—could transform into any class-specific weapon without cooldown restrictions.
What followed was a display that would have impressed professional analysts.
Without any instruction or guidance, Luo Luo began seamlessly switching between combat roles mid-fight. One moment Lord Grim fought as a Battle Mage, the next as a Swordsman, then shifting to Gunner tactics before using Cleric abilities for self-healing when damaged.
The hidden boss fell to this one-man army approach, unable to adapt to constantly changing combat patterns.
"I'm sorry, Brother Ye Xiu," Luo Luo said as he removed his headphones with genuine embarrassment. "I failed to secure the hidden boss first-kill."
"It's okay—you're already incredibly strong. First-kills are just bragging rights. You'll have many more opportunities in the future."
Because Luo Luo had chosen to play solo rather than coordinate with his team, the kill time hadn't been optimized for record-breaking speed. But his individual performance had been nothing short of extraordinary.