"Bang!!"

With a shattering sound, the huge dead tree elite turned into a series of data fragments and disappeared into the air. At the same time, a treasure chest emitting a faint glow appeared in front of Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng opened the treasure chest, and then touched...

"It's a shield."

Fang Zheng raised the shield in his hand, waved it at everyone, and then looked at Qingye.

"It's yours."

“Hey… hey hey hey!?”

Looking at the shield that Fang Zheng handed over, Qingye suddenly screamed. She widened her eyes in surprise and looked at Fang Zheng anxiously.

"But but but...but I didn't do anything...I just helped Miss Kuroneko and Miss Asuna to block the monsters. Mr. Fang Zheng, you can use this shield yourself..."

"I use a two-handed sword, so this shield is useless. Esther and Restia can't use it either. You are the only one using a shield here."

"But……"

Aoba looked at Restia and Esther in embarrassment, then looked at the black cat beside him for help, but the black cat shook his head.

"I still prefer the scimitar... the shield is a burden to me."

"So……"

After hearing Kuroneko's answer, Aoba looked at Asuna again, but this time she was interrupted by Fang Zheng before she could speak.

"She didn't form a team, so she couldn't get the equipment."

“…”

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, Asuna snorted in annoyance and turned her head away.

"Then...then I'll accept it. Thank you, Mr. Fang Zheng."

"You are welcome."

Fang Zheng opened the inventory, handed the shield to Qingye, and waved his hand.

"Although your skills are not very high among us, your basics are pretty good. If you don't have the skills, you can make up for it with equipment. This is the principle of online games."

However, looking at Fang Zheng's back, Restia shook her head slightly and whispered to Esther.

"Ester, this is the eighth time the master has opened the Deadwood Elite's box."

"Yes."

"...But the two-handed greatsword is still not out...Our equipment is almost complete...but the master still hasn't touched anything..."

“…Ahem.”

Fang Zheng coughed, interrupting the whispers of the two people behind him. "Don't open the wound and rub salt into it, okay?" It would be fine if he said that he was unlucky and couldn't get anything good, but he tried eight times in a row, and all he got were other people's equipment. Rapiers, long swords, leather armor, boots... Originally, Fang Zheng thought it was his turn this time.

A shield appeared...

Am I born to do good things?

This reminded Fang Zheng of the time when he was playing World of Warcraft before his rebirth. As a hunter, he always found mage equipment. He could almost get a complete set in one dungeon. For this reason, the mage girl in his team jokingly called him the friend of the mage...

MMP!

Next time, let Esther touch it instead. That girl is white from head to toe, European, so she should be able to touch something good...

At the moment, Esther and Restia were both using the rare blue weapons from the Deadwood Elite Treasure Box, so only Fang Zheng was still using the gray ordinary weapon - well, this two-handed greatsword was bought by Fang Zheng from a forger in the Starting Town because he couldn't find any equipment...

Otherwise, he could only fight elites with his initial weapons, which would be too embarrassing.

"Okay, now let's get down to business."

After handing the shield to Qingye, Fang Zheng coughed and brought the topic back to the topic. He looked at the three girls in front of him seriously and then spoke.

"Now you can make a choice, join my team or leave?"

"I want to join."

The black cat was the first to raise her hand decisively, and then she gave an evil smile.

"I can feel that you and I are entangled in destiny. This is determined by our fate in our previous lives... We are destined to meet here, so let us obey this fate and fight together!"

"Can I...really join?"

Compared with the confident Black Cat, Aoba became panicked instead. She held the shield in her hands, looking confused and uneasy like a stray street puppy.

"I don't have the power of Miss Kuroneko and Miss Asuna..."

"Everyone has different strengths, and I don't just need fighters like them."

Fang Zheng waved his hand.

"I plan to form a guild once we have enough people, but right now... we haven't even gathered the minimum number of people. You should know that not everyone in a guild will fight. We need a lot of talents, and your performance just now is much better than you thought. As long as you are willing to work hard, you will definitely make progress."

"Then...I do!"

Hearing this, Qingye made up his mind and nodded vigorously.

As for what's next...

“…”

Fang Zheng looked at Asuna, and Asuna avoided Fang Zheng's gaze a little, but in the end she gritted her teeth.

"I'd like to join."

"You are welcome to join us."

Hearing Asuna's answer, Fang Zheng's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a strange smile.

"But I have something to say in advance. I think everyone knows that our goal is to clear the 100th floor and then leave this world. To do this, we need to put in a lot of effort... I think you all understand this."

"Of course."

Although they didn't know why Fang Zheng said that, the three of them nodded anyway. Seeing their reactions, Fang Zheng's smile became even more "enthusiastic".

"Then, next, I will conduct a series of training for you to ensure that you have enough strength to meet and face the challenges. The process may be a bit difficult. Are you willing to accept it?"

"I do!"

This time, it was Asuna who answered first. She raised her head and stared at Fang Zheng intently.

"As long as it makes me stronger, I'll do anything!"

Good, girl, that's what you said.

Hearing Asuna's answer, Fang Zheng shrugged.

"Don't say that, Ms. Asuna. I hope you won't regret it."

"I won't regret it."

Asuna obviously had no intention of listening to Fang Zheng's advice. She clenched her fists and bit her lips.

"I want to become stronger and stronger. I will never give up on this world or this game!"

"very good."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly and revealed a strange smile.

"I hope so."

Asuna was indeed very confident. In her opinion, she had already gone through the most difficult days alone in the wilderness before. What could be more difficult than this now?

But soon, Fang Zheng used practical actions to tell her that she thought too simply.

In fact, Fang Zheng's training focuses on only one thing, and that is upgrading.

In this game, the player's health is only linked to the level, which means that the higher the level, the more health you have and the higher the tolerance rate. Maybe others will be killed by the boss with one sword, but you can survive two swords. Don't underestimate the difference between these two swords, it may be the difference between one step to hell and one step to heaven.

So from this day on, Asuna's nightmare... began.