Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

"What do you need from me?"

Lloyd understood the implication in the other’s words and asked directly.

"Ermmm, since it’s such a tricky matter, then..."

The Attendant muttered under his breath, then froze on the spot, completely still, as if he had even stopped breathing.

It wasn’t until three minutes later that he ’revived,’ offering a shocking answer:

"We have decided to take five of your regular points as payment. We also require a promise from you—a promise that you will come play often and try out our various new features."

Lloyd never expected the price they quoted would be something like this.

’Isn’t this a bit too cheap?’

’It’s unbelievably cheap, enough to make one wonder if it’s a scam.’

According to the prices on the redemption list, five points could basically only be exchanged for some unpopular items no one wanted. More popular things, like the [Blood-Gushing Spring] used for [Veto]-type [Transcendence], required a full 20 points.

And for a truck of this tonnage, even if it had just flipped into an ordinary ditch, the cost to get it out would be about enough to buy a [Blood-Gushing Spring] outright.

So this five-point quote made Lloyd unable to resist asking for confirmation:

"Five points? Did I hear you correctly?"

"Of course not!"

The Attendant hurriedly explained:

"Actually, if it weren’t for the objections of several other Attendants, I would have advocated for waiving even this symbolic fee. After all, serving an existence like you who can touch greatness is a rare and valuable opportunity."

From this explanation, Lloyd could clearly sense that what they truly cared about was his promise to come play often.

"You really want me to come play often?"

Lloyd asked again.

The Attendant answered without any attempt to hide it:

"Of course. We welcome all eligible players to come and play every day, especially someone like you."

Lloyd wanted to press further and find out their reasons for doing this, but the Attendant seemed to anticipate his curiosity and answered first:

"I’m sorry, but I cannot explain the more specific reasons to you. I only hope you believe that we bear no ill will. We bear no ill will toward anyone, especially an existence like you who can touch greatness. This is a win-win choice for both of us."

Although Lloyd didn’t quite believe such high-sounding rhetoric, now was not the time to dig deeper. He nodded and agreed:

"Alright, I accept. When can you get the truck out?"

"Please be patient. This is a very tricky job. Why don’t you go and play for a while first? I will bring you good news as soon as possible."

"Alright."

The Attendant then took a step to the side, revealing a black wooden door behind him, and asked:

"So, shall we start with one of our currently popular attractions?"

"Wait, I want to play a round of *Right on Target* first."

"As you wish."

The Attendant moved to the other side, revealing another door behind him.

Lloyd walked in and once again found himself in the rather lively bowling alley.

Not much had changed since his last visit, except that it was more crowded and much livelier.

The moment he stepped inside, a wave of cheers washed over him.

"Go, go, go! Go, pro! Just one more to go!"

"Magic Bullet Hunter, you pro! Today’s the day you break the record!"

"You can do it!"

Lloyd looked up and saw that the resident pro here, ’Magic Bullet Hunter,’ was challenging the ’Difficulty 6’ level.

The scene before him was a cartoonish, fairytale-style town filled with a bunch of two-head-tall chibi figures hopping and skipping about, looking carefree and relaxed.

A short distance away, the pro was holding a bolt-action rifle, searching for the target he needed to hit.

But he didn’t look right. His body was trembling slightly, and the muzzle of his gun swayed along with it.

Finally, he pulled the trigger, then immediately collapsed to the floor and began to pant heavily, not even looking at the final result.

Obviously, the shot had gone wide...

"What a shame. He was just one shot away from breaking the Difficulty 6 record. A real pity, to fall short at the last hurdle..."

"Don’t you guys think the difficulty design for these later levels is a bit unreasonable? Can a human really withstand the Spiritual Contamination and still aim precisely?"

"Why not? The pro Magic Bullet Hunter was just a hair’s breadth away, wasn’t he? Besides, someone has already completed the Difficulty 7 challenge, right?"

"That may be true, but that pro called ’Newbie’ has never shown up again... It makes me wonder if he suffered from excessive Spiritual Contamination and ended up in a mental hospital."

"I think so too. The intensity of the Spiritual Contamination on Difficulty 7 is much higher than on Difficulty 6; it’s almost unbearable for a human... Besides, I was there the day ’Newbie’ broke the record. He didn’t talk to anyone and just left quietly, which makes me suspect he was just barely holding it together."

"That makes sense. To give up such a great opportunity to show off must mean his Rationality couldn’t hold out."

"That’s really... a record bought with one’s life. It’s kind of pathetic when you think about it..."

"By the way, what does the word ’Newbie’ even mean? Has anyone figured it out?"

Their idle chatter left Lloyd speechless...

Just as they couldn’t understand why he would give up a prime opportunity to show off, he couldn’t understand how someone could be addicted to games day in and day out, with no ambition or drive to improve.

’Such indulgence saps one’s will to succeed...’

Lloyd shook his head, silently walked over to an empty lane, and then turned to look at the pro, Magic Bullet Hunter.

With the help of two followers, he was getting up from the floor. He looked up at the result of his failed attempt, sighing and shaking his head.

"Sigh... If my Rationality were just a little stronger, maybe I could have broken the record today."

Someone next to him handed over a thermos and a towel, then said:

"It’s okay, pro. Even though you didn’t pass Difficulty 6, we’re still willing to work with you."

But the pro didn’t accept the offer. He waved his hand and replied politely enough:

"Thanks, but my answer is still the same. You should go find that ’Newbie’ to work with."

"Uh... pro, are you still upset that we didn’t come to you first?"

"That’s not the main reason. I’m not that petty. Haven’t I already explained it to you? I don’t have that much time... Alright, I should be heading back. Sorry..."

After speaking, Magic Bullet Hunter rubbed the bridge of his nose and walked toward the exit.

Although he had looked quite battered earlier, he could now move freely, which showed he had a good grasp of the limits of Spiritual Contamination and hadn’t pushed himself too hard.

This was something most people would find difficult to do. It required considerable, arduous practice and came at a steep price.

As he passed a nearby lane, Magic Bullet Hunter glanced out of the corner of his eye and noticed a new, unfamiliar player standing there who hadn’t selected a difficulty yet.

He didn’t really care about other people’s business, nor did he like to meddle, so he averted his gaze and walked past the person.

But just then, he heard the person say something odd:

"Sorry about this, but I need those precious points too."

As he spoke, a wooden plaque with the number ’6’ on it dropped down above the person’s head.

However, there was no player handle displayed next to it, indicating this was a new player who hadn’t chosen a nickname yet.

Magic Bullet Hunter froze for a moment and stopped in his tracks.

Then, he saw cartoon-style zombies materialize in front of the player, along with a comically large slingshot.

’Another ’Newbie’ imitator?’

Magic Bullet Hunter thought to himself, then gave a self-deprecating smile.

’In fact, I’m one of those clumsy imitators myself.’

Ever since ’Newbie’ broke the record, the cartoon scene he had constructed at the time was saved by the game, becoming a fixed template that could be applied to any difficulty level.

Many people then jumped on the bandwagon, choosing the same cartoon scene. For a few days, the entire bowling alley was filled with screens of slingshots shooting zombies, making it look as if a zombie apocalypse had broken out...

But people quickly discovered that they couldn’t handle this bizarre cartoon template at all!

The massive slingshot had no accuracy to speak of; you basically couldn’t hit anything with it. It was just a waste of points.

The cartoon zombies were even more ridiculous. They looked dumb and slow now, but as soon as one was attacked, the rest would immediately scatter at high speed, making them impossible to hit.

To take them all out in one go, you not only needed extremely strong inspiration to lock onto each one, but you also needed an area-of-effect attack ability—something that low-level Extraordinary Beings lacked.

What’s more, with the increase in Difficulty 6, these zombies also emitted Spiritual Contamination, making it impossible to even dare to lock onto them...

So, some people gave up and switched back to what they were familiar with. Others chose to modify the cartoon template, swapping the weapon for one they knew how to use instead of that weird slingshot, and changing the targets to something cuter instead of those dopey-looking zombies.

That’s how the scene Magic Bullet Hunter had just challenged came to be.

But this new, unfamiliar player in front of him really didn’t seem to get it. He was still using the original cartoon scene, basically just throwing points down the drain.

But he didn’t shoot right away. Instead, he stood there frozen, as if contemplating how to salvage the situation.

Magic Bullet Hunter gradually lost his patience and prepared to leave.

He actually didn’t mind other people challenging Difficulty 6. If this person hadn’t suddenly said those strange words, he wouldn’t have even stopped.

In fact, ever since ’Newbie’ appeared, a craze of record-chasing had swept through the players here, with everyone trying to break the Difficulty 6 record to snatch those precious points.

However, all of them had failed...

To this day, the one who had come closest to breaking the record was still Magic Bullet Hunter.

Therefore, he knew exactly what kind of challenge Difficulty 6 was and wasn’t worried that someone would suddenly surpass his progress.

’It’s not like that ’Newbie’ who disappeared so long ago would suddenly pop up, lower the difficulty, and deliberately compete with me for the precious points, right?’

He more or less believed the others’ analysis—that ’Newbie’ had probably been pushing himself to the limit back then. By now, he had likely been admitted to a mental hospital or the Holy Judgment Court.

But just then, the new player who "didn’t know how to play" snapped out of his daze and made a move.

He casually drew back the slingshot and launched the bird-doll-like projectile.