"Beng," Mu Lan began, "remember how we gain XP by killing monsters? Well, if a monster kills us, we lose a portion of that XP. If we keep dying, our XP will eventually hit zero—and then we'll have to start farming boss monsters all over again."
He leaned forward, eyes gleaming.
"And every boss monster we kill drops decent gear, currency, and—most importantly—Skill Books. There's one specific Skill Book I'm after. If we get it, everything will fall into place. And I've already picked out an amazing one for you too."
"Skill Books?" Beng's eyes widened. "That's incredible! As far as I know, no one's using skills yet—this is only our second time logging in!"
"A few days from now, that'll change," Mu Lan said. "With billions of players in the game, someone's bound to find a Skill Book soon. It's inevitable."
He stood up. "We're skipping school tomorrow. Morning training, then we log in and stay in-game until evening. The next day's a holiday anyway—we'll spend it grinding too."
"Got it!" Beng grinned. "Let's hunt every boss we can find and farm those Skill Books. I never realized being Level 0 could be such a huge advantage. I was so sure we'd just level up fast and become the strongest."
"There are countless secrets in this game we haven't uncovered yet," Mu Lan said. "We'll learn them all—step by step. Now… let's go."
"Ready when you are."
Mu Lan and Beng Zeng logged into Defying the God, quickly formed a party, and left the city behind. Their destination: Solitary Valley.
Upon arrival, they found monsters ranging from Level 3 to 6—giant spiders, far larger than ordinary ones, with colors shifting from pure white to deep crimson.
They moved carefully through the swarm, ignoring the regular mobs—until they spotted it.
Ahead, perched on a rocky ledge, was a spider unlike any other. Its body shimmered with every color of the rainbow, as if it had absorbed the essence of all its kin.
"This has to be the boss," Beng whispered.
[Rainbow Spider – Boss]
Level: 5
HP: 5,000
Attack: 100–500
Special Ability: ???
"This isn't like the Green Wolf," Mu Lan said grimly. "One mistake, and we're dead. But it doesn't matter—we'll kill it even if we die trying. Look, it even has a Special Ability."
"Then tell me the plan," Beng said, gripping his mace. "Let's send this thing back to wherever it came from."
"Same tactic as the wolf. We'll kite it and see what that Special Ability does."
In my past life, I never encountered this spider, Mu Lan thought. What does its ability do? And what will it drop when we kill it?
"Enough talking," he said aloud. "Time to fight."
He nocked an arrow and fired.
–1
–1
–1
–1
–1
The Rainbow Spider barely flinched. It felt only a faint tickle. Annoyed, it scanned the area—and spotted two insignificant humans. It rose to its legs, ready to crush them.
But it made a critical error.
It charged Mu Lan—the archer who'd attacked from range—completely ignoring Beng Zeng behind it.
Until Beng struck from the rear.
–2
–3
–2
–3
–5
The spider froze, humiliated. How dare these insects toy with a Rainbow Spider?!
It whirled toward Beng—but Mu Lan fired again, forcing its attention back. The beast was trapped in a cycle: aggro shifting between them, never able to focus.
Slowly, steadily, they whittled its HP down to 10%.
Mu Lan stayed calm—but inside, he was tense. What is that Special Ability?
At 20% HP, his fear came true.
The spider reared up—and spewed a jet of green venom straight at Mu Lan.
Despite the distance, the attack landed.
–100
Mu Lan's HP plummeted—but thanks to his +50 Defense from the Alchemist's Robe, he didn't die instantly.
Instead, a new debuff appeared:
[Poisoned]
–10 HP per second
Duration: 30 seconds
Ten seconds… I have ten seconds to live.
Beng saw Mu Lan's health bar draining and attacked without hesitation, hammering the spider with everything he had.
Mu Lan, desperate, kept firing arrows—each one weaker than the last.
10… 9… 8…
At zero, his vision faded.
[You Have Died]
–250 Experience
You cannot respawn for 5 minutes.
Mu Lan's screen went dark.
But Beng kept fighting—alone, furious, determined.
The battle wasn't over.
And neither was their quest.