Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

"Lord Xin, I can pull the 'Cat Ninja Team' off from their daily missions and have them help 'Cicada'. That way, everything should be safe."

"Good idea! Since the Calamity King Snake has already left our territory, there's really no need to keep so many troops in Kaicheng."

The two hit it off and immediately began to work together to develop a more detailed plan.

They believed that the messenger from Hades must be the lucky messenger who brought good luck to their cat-people. After the King Snake of Disaster was killed, they would be ready to face the test of the messenger from Hades!

"Everything changes, Krokosin! The fortunes of our cat people have finally turned, meow!"

"Be brave and look forward to it, Lord Xin. The Lord of the Underworld will definitely not let us down!"

9.136 - The Results of Intensive Practice

While the two cat nobles were discussing important matters, the "messenger from the underworld" they were talking about was unknowingly inquiring for information in the mission union branch in Yanji City.

Since the new equipment has not been completed yet, Jiang Ran cannot leave Yanji City for the time being. But apart from this reason, he actually has another thing he wants to resolve before leaving Yanji City.

In recent times, Jiang Ran has been troubled by the problem of carrying equipment.

The ever-increasing number of equipment has posed substantial trouble to Jiang Ran. Although his physical fitness allows him to easily carry all the equipment after reaching the fifth level of strength, doing so will, on the one hand, make him very bloated and affect his movements; on the other hand, it will attract attention, which goes against Jiang Ran's desire to keep a low profile.

Therefore, Jiang Ran wanted to find a solution to the equipment problem in Yanji City. The conventional method he knew so far was to find a follower or a helper such as a horse to carry the equipment.

"Any team of four or five or more people will generally hire porters or load horses. If you need anything, you can go to the 'Hire Guild' next door to find out."

After listening to the introduction of the girl at the front desk of the task union, Jiang Ran politely said thank you, then turned around and went to the tavern.

Conventional methods were obviously not suitable for Jiang Ran. What he needed was a helper who did not require him to worry and who could cooperate with him for a long time. This could not be achieved by hiring porters or ordinary horses.

Since ordinary methods are of no use, Jiang Ran can only find another way.

He is now in the tavern, chatting with all kinds of people about various strange stories, hoping to hear something from others that can inspire his thinking.

However, this kind of thing is obviously not something that can be encountered casually. Jiang Ran stayed in the tavern for two hours and heard only some irrelevant rumors.

For example, the cat people of the Farnas Empire have declined and can only make extra money by providing some sneaky services to other forces;

For example, the leaders of the Human Alliance suddenly went crazy and were frantically escalating the situation on the front lines;

Some people also said that they saw a giant snake monster that could swallow a house in one bite around the Feiqi family’s territory a few days ago, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye, and so on.

Listening to these meaningless gossips, Jiang Ran gradually felt that it was a waste of time to continue listening, so he gave up the idea of ​​taking a chance and instead came to the outskirts of Yanji City and began to use the new "training mode" to practice and improve his skill proficiency.

·

Jiang Ran’s new training mode is actually not complicated to introduce. To put it simply, it is a shadow version of "Left and Right Fighting".

He first summoned a shadow clone and assigned it a wooden sword. Then, after the cooling time was over, he summoned another shadow clone and asked it to also hold the wooden sword. Then, he started a life-and-death duel with his shadow clone colleague.

Jiang Ran himself stood by and watched intently. As soon as the cooldown of his skill, "Shadow Behind," was over, he would immediately summon a new shadow clone to join the battle, not worrying at all about the situation becoming more complicated...

In fact, it’s more like this is exactly what Jiang Ran wants to see.

After today's sparring match with Viviana in the Feiqi family's martial arts training ground, Jiang Ran clearly noticed the gap between himself and Viviana in "basic skills".

For example, when doing the same side jump and dodge, Viviana does it more simply and neatly, while Jiang Ran himself makes many unnecessary and redundant movements.

Don’t underestimate the importance of extra movements. In a life-or-death duel where victory or defeat is decided by a fraction of a second, one extra or one less movement can often be the difference between victory and defeat, and determine life or death.

Therefore, in order to change his bad habits and improve his combat skills, Jiang Ran decided to use this "third-person perspective" to correct his movements.

We know that apart from the different appearances, each black shadow clone is a perfect replica of Jiang Ran. Their fighting movements and habits are naturally exactly the same as Jiang Ran's.

Jiang Ran uses this method to discover his shortcomings, figure out how to improve them, and then generate new shadow clones to join the battle until he is satisfied.

On the other hand, Jiang Ran's training method will naturally quickly increase the skill experience value of "Shadow Behind", allowing this skill to be promoted to the next stage more quickly.

As long as Jiang Ran doesn't change his previous idea of ​​the "new combat system", the skill "Shadow Behind" will be his core skill for a long time to come.

The ability, duration, and other parameters of the shadow clone are all important factors that will determine the strength of the "new combat system". The only way to improve these is to increase the skill level of the "shadow behind you".

·

After an afternoon of intense training, Jiang Ran successfully raised the shadow behind him to level 40. This was also his first combat professional skill to reach level 40.

After reaching level 40, the summoning location of the skill "Shadow Behind" was optimized from the original "Shadow of a Living Target" to "Any Shadow", the shadow clone's survival time was increased from 35 seconds to 40 seconds, and the corresponding mana consumption was also increased from 300 points to 500 points.

While these changes are great, they pale in comparison to the final improvement we haven't mentioned yet.

The final upgrade for "Shadow Behind You" is the third new item added after "False Shadow" and "Displacement", and its name is "Final Glow".

[Note 1: Shadow, consumes mana to allow the shadow clone to use equipment skills]

[Note 2: Teleport, swap positions with the shadow clone and gain damage transfer shield]

The effect of the entry "Last Gasp" is that Jiang Ran can choose any shadow clone and reset its state to the initial state.

This entry has a mana cost of 500 points and a cooldown of 30 seconds, which at first glance seems a bit ordinary.

However, Jiang Ran didn't think so. After he used the shadow clone to simply experiment with the effect of this new entry, he immediately realized that this would be an important entry to transform the "new combat system"!

·

After experiments, Jiang Ran simply and roughly figured out the actual effects of the new term "last gasp", which are two in particular.

The first effect is to restore the shadow clone to the state when it was first summoned. This means that no matter how badly the shadow clone is beaten or how incomplete its body is, as long as it is still alive, it can immediately return to a healthy state - as long as it was healthy when it was summoned.

The second effect is to reset the existence time of the shadow clone to 0 seconds, allowing the shadow clone to exist for another 40 seconds.

By adding these two effects together, Jiang Ran obtained a black shadow clone that can exist for an extremely long time and is almost indestructible. Moreover, this "persistent existence" effect will continue to increase in the future as the "Shadow Behind" skill is enhanced.

It is no exaggeration to say that at this moment, Jiang Ran seemed to be able to see the day when his "Shadow Army" would take shape.

(Hmm… Although it’s not what I expected, this route is not bad.)

Jiang Ran nodded in satisfaction and prepared to return to Yanji City to rest, but at this moment, unexplained dust suddenly rose in the wilderness hundreds of meters away from him.

9.137 - Undead Shadow

(What's going on?)

Jiang Ran looked around and saw dust rolling in the distance, making it difficult to tell what was in it.

At first he thought it was a group of horses passing by, but the ground did not shake as horses would when they passed by. So the only possibility left was that a large monster or a large group of monsters were approaching.

(What's up with Yanji City's monster warning system... Why do we keep getting approached by dangerous monsters?)

It had only been a short while since the last battle with the Great Armored King Lizard outside Yanji City, and now a similar thing happened again. This made Jiang Ran complain in his heart.

As he prepared to fight, he thought: if the monster that was attacking was a fourth-level monster or above, he would be happy to gain some experience points, but if not, he would have to consider whether his remaining magic power was worth doing this hard work for Yanji City.

Just as Jiang Ran was thinking this, a huge black shadow appeared in the dust in the distance. Although the distance was too far to see the other party's true body, Jiang Ran could see that a creature as thick and huge as a train stood up in the dust, and then spit out a large number of black "strips" into the air.

For a moment, Jiang Ran almost didn't know whether to look up in the air or at the ground. Fortunately, he still had the "all-round vision" ability of the super-dimensional divine eye, and immediately kept an eye on the movements on both sides at the same time.

On one side of the sky, those black strips turned out to be snake-shaped monsters. After being ejected into the air, they were now flying towards Jiang Ran's location.

On one side of the dusty ground, the train-like creature drilled into the ground and disappeared without a trace.

(What kind of artificial “rain” is this?)

After watching this scene, Jiang Ran immediately began to retreat.

Before the creature in the sand took action, he thought that this encounter was just an unfortunate coincidence, but now he has figured out that the other party did not just happen to pass by, but was running towards him with a purpose.

Now, there were more than ten snake-like monsters in the sky, risking their lives to attack him. Jiang Ran would never believe that they did not have some personal grudge.

(Snake... could it be that guy, 'Blood-sucking Serpent Orlosk'?)

[Note: Jiang Ran was unaware of the information that the blood-sucking snake was dormant.]

Jiang Ran's nerves immediately tensed up when he thought that the attacker might be a blood-sucking snake.

This terrifying old man is not only powerful, but also extremely crazy. He often does things beyond common sense and is simply impossible to guard against.

(Didn't I just hear that this guy went to Baigu City? No, the speed of information transmission in the Prison Star World is incomparable to that of Earth. If the news can reach me, then it means that the Bloodthirsty Serpent can also reach where I am...!)

The more Jiang Ran thought about it, the more dangerous the situation seemed, so he immediately turned around and ran.

But if I run away, where should I go?

For a moment, Jiang Ran thought of Yanji City behind him. As long as he made use of the defense force of Yanji City, Jiang Ran would have no problem escaping in the chaos.

However, he immediately rejected this idea, because if he did so, it would not only bring danger to Viviana in Yanji City, but would also seriously affect Viviana and others' plan to rescue the lord.

Jiang Ran would never do such a thing as repaying kindness with resentment.

(Tsk, then we can only lead them to the volcanic ruins... The terrain in the ruins is complex, we can use the terrain to our advantage and find a solution later...)

Jiang Ran did it right away. He immediately changed his pace and direction, and sprinted towards the Wakeno volcanic ruins with all his strength.

Unfortunately, his decision and action were delayed due to hesitation. As the sounds of "bang", "bang", and "bang" hitting the ground rang out all around, the snake monsters that were "airdropped" had already landed on the ground and surrounded Jiang Ran!

·

With the blessing of the "Goddess of Courage, Eret", Jiang Ran would not feel the slightest fear even if he was suddenly attacked and surrounded.

However, there was another reason why he did not feel scared at this moment. It was because he only saw clearly at this moment that the monsters surrounding him were actually the fourth-level monster he had just fought some time ago, the Calamity Horned Viper.

Looking at these snake-like monsters that were famous for their horns and hard scales, Jiang Ran was not so nervous at all. After all, he had just killed one of their kind before.

Moreover, Jiang Ran did not see any words related to "summoning" in the identification information, which means that these snake-like monsters are living monsters, not summoned by magic.

Recalling his two previous battles with the Bloodthirsty Serpent Orlosk, Jiang Ran clearly remembered that the snake-like monsters commanded by that guy were all summoned creatures. In other words, his current situation might actually have nothing to do with the Bloodthirsty Serpent.

(Level 4 monsters…even though the experience packs are halved, they are still important experience packs.)

Jiang Ran quickly changed his strategy from fleeing to fighting.

He drew out the "Yanma Knight Sword: Lanzel" and summoned a black shadow clone outside the encirclement.

With the experience of fighting the Caesar's Horned Viper last time, Jiang Ran now knows very well how to deal with these seventeen or eighteen snake monsters.

Jiang Ran already knew what attacks were ineffective against them and what fighting methods could kill them the fastest.

As the flying dragon made of dark blue flames roared into the encirclement of the disaster-horned vipers, Jiang Ran took the opportunity to break out of the encirclement and swung the beast horn giant sword like a boomerang.

In this situation, if it were someone else, the weapon would become a disposable prop after being thrown out, but Jiang Ran was different. After the giant sword with beast horns he swung out hit the head of a disaster-horned viper, a black shadow clone immediately jumped out from the side to catch it, and then immediately started killing the snakes.

Until today, Sombra's self-sacrificing tactics were used to buy time or distract the enemy, but today was different, because Sombra had a new attribute, "Last Gasp."

·

With Jiang Ran's long-range assistance, the black shadow clone holding the beast horn giant sword in both hands began its unparalleled journey of slaying the snake.

Whenever the shadow clone is severely damaged by the Caesar's Horned Viper, Jiang Ran will activate the "Last Moment of Life" attribute to help it recover to the healthy state when it was first summoned, and the duration of its existence can also be "infinitely refilled".

The horned vipers had never seen such an immortal monster before, and they were all stunned by it.

Gradually, the Caesars no longer used "Sand Assault" to try to devour the shadow clone, nor did they expect "Doom Snake Liquid" to completely dissolve it at once, let alone use the "scraping" skill "Dust Roll" in the "Quicksand Vortex".

As the shadow clone used the giant beast horn sword to send one disaster horn viper after another into a "baby-like sleep", these snake-like monsters were finally defeated by the death of their own kind and began to retreat and flee.

But, now that they were here, how could Jiang Ran let the experience packs that had been delivered to him slip away? Also unwilling to let the Causing Horned Vipers retreat was the person who had just "airdropped" them...

9.138 - King Viper

On the outskirts of Yanji City, the ground suddenly shook.

The disaster horned vipers that were fleeing in all directions seemed to have sensed something and stopped at the same time, hissing their tongues as if they were waiting for something to appear.

(…Is that big guy coming?)

The careful Jiang Ran certainly did not miss this important clue. He immediately found the location of the earthquake and tried to distance himself from it.

But not long after, Jiang Ran realized that the location of the earthquake source was not fixed, but was moving after him!

The enemy hiding underground seems to have a way to grasp Jiang Ran's location in real time, and he won't let go no matter what!

(How could such a thing be accomplished underground? Is it supernormal hearing? Or is it magical perception?)

Jiang Ran was unable to determine the enemy's positioning method for a moment, but it didn't matter. No matter what method the enemy used, he only needed to change his position the moment the enemy launched an attack.

(Hashrate improvement and overclocking.)

Under the effect of his inherent ability, Fearlessness, Jiang Ran maintained almost absolute calmness.

As he waited patiently, a red light warning first appeared in the form of a circle of light under his feet, which meant that the level of the attacking enemy was below level 200.

(Three... two... one... let me see your true face, you sneaky guy!)

Before the attack from underground arrived, Jiang Ran used the "Shadow Escape Step" to move to a safe area, and then saw a huge monster leap out from the ground, swallowing the ground where Jiang Ran was standing in just one bite!