Thick dark circles under the eyes, yellow and dry skin, scars all over his body, and a body that can only be regarded as a standard. This is how Lu Pingan felt when he first met the titled mercenary named Xue En.
To be honest, it's pretty bad.
"This is Xue En, a first-level boxer and soldier, a pure combat professional, a first-level expert in actual combat ability in our store, he should be very suitable for your needs."
Although the shop owner introduced him in this way, when he saw the dark circles under his eyes that looked like he had been practicing immortality for several months, as well as his trembling arms and wandering eyes that looked like signs of anxiety disorder, Lu Ping'an doubted whether he was mentally normal and whether he would die suddenly in the next moment.
But soon, that was no longer a doubt...
"...On your feet?"
"Oh, there's a venomous snake, small problem..."
He pulled it casually, and the green viper turned into a piece of minced meat. Then he gave himself an injection, which solved the problem.
Then, he cleaned up the extra things on his body, such as poisonous thorns, fist-sized poisonous insects... Looking at Lu Ping'an's creepy things, he seemed to be doing it every day.
I also walked around in the forest. The road was safe and it was probably the normal difficulty, but this one was the hell difficulty.
"Er Fist" Xue En is one of the very few powerful mercenaries with titles at the lower levels. His personal strength is not to mention the best among the first level. Many second level combat systems cannot be his opponent.
And the reason why he is in a mess now is because of his innate ability - "all his wishes come true".
Yes, it's the one who "wants to eat peaches", but his ability can only think of bad things, not good things.
It means "I have to be careful. It's raining today and the road is slippery. I might fall down when I go out." Then I fall steadily when I go out.
The existence of this ability greatly shocked Lu Ping'an, making him re-examine the types and upper limits of superpowers, and also clarified a reality...
"Although I know that many abilities have negative effects, but you..."
"I will try my best to control it. Don't worry, I won't drag you down. I have experience in this area."
This man looked like he was covered with knives. Lu Pingan did not respond and smiled.
"....Sorry, my mood is often wrong."
The next moment, this person took the initiative to apologize again, which seemed to be even worse.
In fact, according to Xue En's self-introduction, he does have a variety of mental illnesses including anxiety and depression, but Lu Ping'an can understand them.
When a person has a slight negative emotion, his "imagination" will turn into reality and deal a fatal blow to him. He will probably always be anxious and vigilant.
And that kind of continuous tension will eventually turn into psychological pressure that defeats anyone, and depression and anxiety combined with negative emotions...
"Excuse me, I'm a little surprised that you're not crazy yet."
"Our family has coping methods and has been trained since childhood. In fact, it's okay during the day. The main discomfort is at night. When you sleep too much and nightmares come true, you may really die... So I have to enter as soon as possible. The second level is to curb the further spread of supernatural powers."
What? Your family? Is your whole family like this?
"Didn't I tell you? This is our 'inherited superpower'. I'm fine with it, but my uncle was exaggerating. He was refused a visa by twenty-seven countries..."
After actually communicating with Xue En, Lu Pingan discovered that he was not as dull as he appeared. He was also a young man and a student who had been tortured to the point of numbness by life.
But along the way, he also understood why other mercenaries looked at him with sympathy.
Traveling with him was truly a nightmare of torture.
"Is this kind of equipment really possible?"
First, I sorted out the supplies and equipment for 40 minutes, found several stores, and then doubled the budget. The little time wasted on repeated decisions made way for Ping An to upgrade on the spot... .He has been waiting for today’s lunch sharing experience!
"This road smells of blood... Let's change the road."
"The tree trunk that was hit in front has traces of a giant beast. I'm going to have a look. If you don't come back in five minutes, don't wait for me."
"I told you! Don't go near the water! You will be dragged down by the lake monster! It will be a very uncomfortable death!"
From helplessness to annoyance, from anger to numbness, as a mercenary, Xue En is very good at tormenting his employer.
But don’t mention it, I gained a lot of knowledge during the safe journey.
After all, "Always be vigilant, be careful under your feet, behind the forest, under the water, behind rocks, and other places where threats may be hidden." Many people forget this after hearing it.
But when the speaker is dragged away by a giant python or dragged into the water by a water monster in front of your eyes, you will be particularly impressed.
"First of all, I need to know that you were not involved in some vicious incident. Someone secretly modified your bracelet? That would violate the contract we signed before. I need an explanation."
And now, this man was looking at him with vigilant eyes... Lu Ping'an knew that he had no malice, and was not even nervous at all. He was just trying to hold back his laughter.
From the look in his eyes, Lu Pingan knew that he probably had hundreds of thousands of words of love and hatred in his mind.
Anxiety and depression are like this. You think about the worst in everything, and you make up essays at every turn... The most terrible thing is that the person in front of you may make the essays real!
"No, I changed this myself. I have some tricks to make it more resistant to pollution. But I don't want to be seen by too many people."
Lu Ping'an glanced at it and saw that Aklis behind him had completely dissipated.
If a normal level 0 newcomer hunts this close to level 2 monster, his bracelet will definitely change color, and maybe it will jump red directly, while his own will still be white light.
This was modified by Lu Pingping himself under the guidance of Chris before departure.
No matter what happens after that, this bracelet will only be white light.
"This thing is useless to you. I don't want to walk around under the black light, so I dismantled it and cut off the dyed signal wire as I told you."
Lu Ping'an did as he was told, but it was discovered that something was wrong so quickly. It can only be said that the negative emotions made the punch in front of him too sensitive.
When the employer said it was okay, the mercenary nodded and did not ask any further questions.
His "bad luck" is too famous, and it is too difficult to get a job... When the employer's accident rate is as high as 67%, it is difficult not to be famous.
"Xue En, this is indeed my first time hunting. Do you have any advice?"
This time, Lu Ping'an was very sincere.
He felt that he had achieved the ultimate, but since the veteran said it was only "4 points", there must be something wrong with it.
It's not scary when something goes wrong. What's scary is that you didn't realize something was wrong. That may be because the place where the problem happened is directly in your blind spot of knowledge.
"...Have you ever killed someone? At least in a secret realm."
When it came to the second half of the sentence, the "Panda Man" with black eye circles used an affirmative tone instead of a question.
Equan could see that Lu Ping'an was enjoying the battle rather than being forced to fight. This was obviously not the first brother on the battlefield.
Since he has never hunted monsters, he must have killed people.
"Um."
Lu Pingan smiled and nodded.
"So, your fighting style is to dance on the blade and gamble your life with others. This is the way to duel with others, but it is definitely not the way to hunt monsters. The most important thing about hunting is not the gorgeous performance when hunting powerful monsters. , but a large number of killings that are efficient, stable, safe, and low energy consumption..."
Under Equan's explanation, Lu Ping'an knew something was wrong with him.
It is easier to understand in terms of playing games. In PVP (player versus player), both sides have their own unique moves. Random response is a must. The psychological game can reach more than ten levels.
As for PVE (player versus monster) hunting, efficient, low-cost, and safe hunting, with the number of kills in exchange for stable profits, is the way to go.
"As a veteran, you will not put yourself in danger from the beginning. The twice-mutated Akris is indeed quite dangerous, so you should not be in its sight from the beginning... "
"You are not prepared to deal with the medicine or items of 'Misty Eyes'. When you were blinded, there was a moment of stagnation. You did not do a good job in psychological construction. This is fatal..."
"Since you can 'plant ripen', and since there is a monkey shield tree, why not build a fortress from the beginning, protect yourself completely, and kill safely. Akris is easily angered... .”
"The biggest difference between killing and hunting is that monsters in secret realms often have relatively simple attack templates and low IQs. It is not difficult to deal with them skillfully. We can prepare efficient hunting modules in advance. But if we can't find a way to blindly Go ahead, wrestle with a giant beast, that's harder than killing someone..."
There is no doubt that Equan helped Lu Pingan open a new world.
Lu Ping'an eagerly absorbed all relevant knowledge and experience, and practiced it in actual combat as soon as possible, using it to harvest monsters one by one and obtain the materials he desired.
"It seems like you hired the right person?"
And the next morning, when Lu Ping'an harvested his "share", he was extremely sure of his decision.
