In his hand was a small crossbow. When he saw I was empty-handed, his grin widened.
He had spotted a player descending nearby, and now this female player—unarmed, alone—was now right in front of him. He laughed under his breath. Easy target.
He had just finished the line when he fired the arrow.
He always used the same trick—say something shocking, let them freeze for a second, then shoot. It worked every time. He watched the arrow fly straight toward my forehead, certain this would be his kill.
He felt no guilt, no regret. This was just a game. She wouldn't feel pain. Even a headshot would only make her dizzy, disoriented—eyes unfocused, body swaying, knees buckling as the vision faded to black. Everything would feel real except the actual hurt. That was the rule.
But what he expected didn't happen.
I reached out my hand and caught the arrow mid-air with bare fingers.
The arrow had almost no force behind it—just a light bolt from a normal crossbow. I adjusted my grip instinctively, catching it by the shaft near the fletching so the tip wouldn't nick me. Archery arts had taught me exactly where to intercept a projectile safely.
I am quite skilled in archery, so I quickly found its weak position. I lifted my hand and threw the arrow back with full force.
Even though this character body wasn't as powerful as my real one, I could still utilize it perfectly. The game imitated a real human body down to every detail—lungs, muscles, joints, everything. I had been shocked at first when I felt it all so clearly, but the surprise faded quickly. If the game could pull my consciousness here, replicating a human body was not much.
So I used every bit of strength I had and hurled the arrow.
The player opposite me froze, stunned that I had caught it so easily. He opened his mouth to say something—
The arrow embedded in his forehead.
His eyes rolled upward. No helmet, no armor—just exposed skin. The bolt sank deep.
His body swayed, then collapsed backward. Consciousness gone blank in an instant.
Then his body began to evaporate—skin, muscles, outfit, everything dissolving into light particles until only a clean white skeleton remained.
On the skeleton's forehead, a glowing symbol appeared—his entire loot condensed into one symbol.
I walked over calmly, clicked the symbol.
A small crossbow materialized in front of me. I took it and stored it in my pouch.
Then I continued toward the rock, crossbow ready.
Just as I moved, I heard a voice coming from the skeleton. "Hey, how can you catch the arrow like that? You don't even have gloves or armor—how can you catch it without any of them? What equipment did you use?"
I wasn't surprised by the voice. I turned and looked at the skeleton, but above its head floated a white ball. The voice came from this white ball.
I had seen in videos that players can stay in white ball form after they die. They can roam around the continent or anywhere they want—they can even fly—but they can only be seen by their killer, the player or squad who killed them, and of course their own teammates.
These white balls can only roam, watch, and observe. They won't be able to disturb other players. They also can't leak any information about other players to their killers or teammates. Anyway, who in their right mind would help their killer? But this method prevents fraud and cheat.
I looked at the white ball calmly. Then I saw a message in my status window, which emerged beside me after the white ball began talking.
I ignored the player and focused on the message. It was a choice:
Continue talking with the killed player?
Yes | No
I clicked the second option. The white ball vanished from in front of me.
I continued moving toward the rock undisturbed.
The white ball also received a message: the player didn't want to talk. So it began following her. He wanted to figure out if this person was a cheater or something.
Meanwhile, I reached the rock. I saw a gun symbol and clicked it. A long-range gun appeared, along with its ammo. Surprisingly, I also got a low-level boosting stone.
What are boosting stones?
I'd seen in videos that boosting stones come in 4 ranks:
- Low level
- Middle level
- High level
- Top level
By combining these boosting stones, you can enhance weapons or armor or any other item. Enhancements boost damage, stability, penetration power, and overall performance for weapons. For armor, they increase durability.
If anyone finds a top-level boosting stone and uses it on a weapon, they can one-hit kill almost any player.
Only armor of the same level can withstand such an enhanced attack. Anything lower? Gone in 3 or even less attacks.
And the armor isn't physical—it's a lightweight, invisible energy field. No one can even feel they're wearing it; it just hums faintly in the status window when active.