Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Ruo Manni had completed all the tasks she had marked on the map, leaving only distant ones with longer time limits, so she decided not to pursue them today.

She was very satisfied with the gold coin tasks she completed tonight, earning over 40 gold coins and effectively honing various skills, which increased her damage output several times.

With such a high damage value, completing Level Three tasks would be much easier. Ruo Manni chose a large rock to sit on and decided to rest until her mana recovered enough to tackle her upgrade tasks.

However, waiting for recovery was undeniably boring, so she logged into the war world’s forum to check the youth group’s world rankings and see how other players were faring.

In the two hours she spent on her gold coin tasks, seventy-eight players had already reached Level Two on the leaderboard, indicating there were many talented individuals in this world, but still no Level Three players.

Ruo Manni guessed that players who had reached Level Two yesterday were likely pushing for Level Three now. Players like the male and female leads, who had trained since childhood, might not have high base attributes, but their skill damage would definitely be much greater than hers since she was just starting.

It was only after completing the gold coin tasks and boosting her damage that Ruo Manni realized that a higher damage output naturally meant lower mana and health consumption for tasks. This explained why the male lead, despite having lower base attributes, wasn’t leveling up any slower than she was.

Ruo Manni really disliked being forced to rest; sitting idle felt uncomfortable. After twenty minutes, her mana was finally restored, and she eagerly clicked on the upgrade task panel to teleport and start her upgrade mission.

Her Level Three upgrade task was to kill ten Level Two Fire Beasts. She was teleported to a forest, appearing about 100 meters away from a group of Level Two Fire Beasts.

To her surprise, she noticed players on the other side of the Fire Beasts—specifically, a team of players.

This was the first time Ruo Manni encountered other players while doing a mission in the wild, and they were in a group.

Confused, she recalled that the war world’s system rules stated that before reaching Level Ten, players could only complete their own upgrade tasks, and assistance from others in killing monsters was ineffective. What was going on with this group?

As she observed more closely, she quickly noticed something unusual. She saw a male player pull the monster, while two other male players attacked it until its health was nearly depleted, allowing a female player standing nearby to deliver the finishing blow.

The war world’s system determines that only the player who delivers the final blow to kill a monster can gain experience points. This group was exploiting that loophole to help the female player complete her upgrade task.

Given the way they were fawning over her, it was clear that the wealthy young lady wasn’t just privileged; she stood out in a different way, and Ruo Manni didn’t find that strange.

However, gaining an advantage often comes with a cost. While this female player could easily complete her upgrade task, such shortcuts wouldn’t help her hone her combat skills or improve her cultivation.

Over time, the consequences would become evident: the diligent young players completing various tasks would see their cultivation soar, while those who took shortcuts without putting in the effort would remain stagnant.

Ruo Manni had no intention of interfering; she simply pretended not to see and moved to another area to farm her own monsters. Although there were only twenty or thirty Fire Beasts in this area, they respawned quickly, and each player could work on their tasks without disturbing one another.

Level Two Fire Beasts were extremely ferocious, with 500 health points and attack damage of 80. Their fire breath stretched over two meters long; players with lower health who hadn’t trained in lightness techniques would likely struggle to withstand even two attacks.

Ruo Manni witnessed the Level One player helping to pull the monster get killed in one hit; dying meant starting over. For now, lower-level players could endure this, but she wondered if they would still sacrifice themselves for someone when they reached higher levels.

Even with her high health, Ruo Manni wouldn’t be able to withstand such powerful attacks from the Fire Beasts. After some consideration, she used her mind’s “hand” to firmly “pin down” the Fire Beast’s head, preventing it from breathing fire directly at her. Then, she swung her sword at its neck, dealing 33 points of damage.

The Fire Beast violently broke free from her telekinesis and sprayed fire at her, but she nimbly dodged it. She charged in again, using her telekinetic hand to push down on the beast’s head, and slashed again with her sword, dealing another 22 points of damage.

When Ruo Manni finally ground down one Fire Beast, she realized she had lost over fifty health points, understanding now how killing just ten of these beasts would allow her to reach Level Three.

Killing a Level Two Fire Beast drained her ten mana points, not to mention the fifty health points lost. How could an ordinary player manage to kill ten Fire Beasts within the three-hour time limit? No wonder no one had reached Level Three yet.

Ruo Manni’s impressive maneuver clearly stunned the team of wealthy young players more than twenty meters away. They had spent nearly two and a half hours and had lost one player while only managing to kill eight Fire Beasts, with only half an hour left to complete their task. It seemed unlikely they would finish today.

Meanwhile, that one female player had dispatched a Fire Beast in just a few minutes and was ready to take on another.

“That female player must have at least 30 points of damage, and she’s likely a telekinetic. Look at how the Fire Beast can’t hit her; sometimes it even moves slowly waiting for her to strike. Otherwise, with her unimpressive sword skills, she would have died ten times by now,” one male player analyzed, clearly knowledgeable.

He didn’t lower his voice, so Ruo Manni heard him well but chose to ignore it. The battle world had a rule that players under Level Ten couldn’t engage in PvP, and no one in that group showed hostility toward her. So, she continued focusing on her own monsters.

The Fire Beasts were proving to be much harder to defeat than she had estimated. Killing one took more time than she anticipated, making her realize she had been overly confident. If she had known better, she would have come to complete the tasks sooner. If she couldn’t finish her kills within three hours, her efforts for the day would be wasted.

It was crucial to know that players had to clear the upgrade task on their first attempt to receive the full reward. If they failed and had to try again, they would lose 10% of the experience and the gold reward would also be reduced by 10%. Ruo Manni regretted her earlier overconfidence, knowing that underestimating the task could lead to failure.

Determined to complete the upgrade task smoothly, she decided to put aside any concerns about drawing attention and worked hard to combine her skills to defeat the monsters.

Fortunately, after slaying two beasts, she discovered a better method to handle the Fire Beasts, significantly increasing her kill speed compared to her initial attempts.