Chapter 5 – The Unpredictability of Pick-Up Groups
by Salted FishAfter the Heavenly Lake adventure, Milk is Mom set up shop in a picturesque, eternally spring-like location—Xiushui Street. He wasn’t selling anything serious, mainly using his stall name as an advertisement: Sincere Power Leveling, No Job Too Small. Sitting next to him was Diamond Seller, whose stall name paired perfectly with his to form a couplet: Buying Coins Long-Term, Fair to All.
Switching back to his other computer, the little Assassin was still forging gear. Fang Zheng stretched lazily, pulling the alt out of the Blacksmith shop, officially completing his transition from the tech department to the sales department.
The little Assassin was still Level 12, but after several hours of forging, the XP bar was nearly full. As Fang Zheng maneuvered him back to Hangzhou City, he casually killed two mobs along the way, and Mad Lad leveled up to 13.
Hangzhou City was essentially a starter town, surrounded by Level 10-20 maps, so it naturally gathered many low-level alts grinding in the vicinity.
Fang Zheng used the Huaxia Coins he’d earned from grinding to repair his weapon and gear durability in Hangzhou City, then headed to an open-world ridge teeming with birds and pheasants. These mobs had thin skins and low defense, making them the most efficient to kill. The spot was unnamed and relatively hidden—unless you were intimately familiar with Huaxia Online’s maps, few alts would train here. So, Mad Lad safely farmed for three hours.
Mad Lad reached Level 27.
Now he could tackle the lowest-tier dungeon—Lintong Terracotta Warriors.
Fang Zheng opened the group recruitment board, which was densely packed with listings. This was the advantage of a new server: plenty of players, never any fear of not finding a group.
There were over a dozen recruitment posts for the Terracotta Warriors dungeon. Fang Zheng had originally planned to browse through them one by one to find a group without an Assassin, but the very first team was already 5/6, with the recruitment tagline: Need an Assassin to start.
His application was naturally accepted.
The party leader was a Level 30 Blood Warrior named Bloodthirsty Blade.
[Party] Bloodthirsty Blade: Newbie, can you pull the War Chariot?
Fang Zheng didn’t love the tone, but adhering to the principle of prioritizing efficiency for the client, he answered honestly.
[Party] Mad Lad: No problem.
[Party] Bloodthirsty Blade: OK, meet at the entrance.
By the time Mad Lad reached the dungeon entrance, the rest of the party had already gone in. It was a pick-up group—no right to demand they wait for him. Besides, them going in first to clear mobs meant less work for him. So Fang Zheng didn’t overthink it, clicked on the massive Qin Shi Huang statue, waited for the loading bar, and entered.
The narrow Terracotta Warriors corridors had already been wrecked by his teammates. Fang Zheng stepped over the wreckage, moving forward until he caught up with the main group at the first miniboss.
The first miniboss was the Kneeling Archer, a pushover in combat. A few stabs from Fang Zheng later, the boss crumpled under the gang-up. It dropped a ring that increased max HP, but the boost was so negligible that everyone passed on rolling for it. In the end, the squishy Demon Refiner scooped it up with a trash-collecting mindset.
The second boss was the Spirit of a Qin Dynasty Warrior, slightly tankier but still no match for mindless DPS. Again, nothing good dropped, but no one minded—everyone knew the real first worthwhile fight was coming up next:
The War Chariot.
If the first two were just minions, the Qin Dynasty War Chariot was the big boss’s right-hand enforcer. Its position wasn’t fixed, often darting around the corridors. The worst part was that once combat started, its range of movement expanded, summoning all mobs within dozens of meters. So a stealth-capable class had to find it while invisible, then successfully lure it into a sealed burial chamber to ensure it couldn’t call reinforcements before being killed. Among all classes, only Assassins had Stealth.
It sounded complicated, but for a Level 30 dungeon, a few runs would make it second nature. So Mad Lad pulled the mob into the chamber in under three minutes.
[Party] Bloodthirsty Blade: Newbie, not bad.
The leader didn’t hold back on the praise.
But Fang Zheng lost confidence. At this point, if they still couldn’t tell he was a veteran, their IQ was truly worrying.
Soon, he realized it wasn’t just the leader—everyone in the party was hopeless.
Fuck, the mages are going all-out before aggro stabilizes! Of course they’re gonna pull aggro!
And the healer’s topping up the Spirit Master with a full heal?! Couldn’t you wait till the mage dies to revive them?! Insta-healing like this just pulls aggro onto yourself!!
Great, now the boss is targeting the healer! Is the Blood Warrior even human?! Are you sure you’re not a pig?! Even letting the system auto-control would’ve pulled aggro back by now—what the hell are you doing?! Playing cards, Mahjong, and eating chips while running this dungeon?!
A wipe1Wipe = total defeat, short for wipeout was inevitable. By the second half, Fang Zheng was too exhausted to complain. He even deliberately stepped into the boss’s attack range, eager to die and respawn sooner.
[Party] Bloodthirsty Blade: Damn, this dungeon’s kinda hard.
The leader, lying dead on the ground, summed it up.
So you guys are actually here for progression?!
Fang Zheng couldn’t bear to watch any longer and promptly left the party. The little Assassin clutched his chest as he appeared at the respawn point, his XP bar noticeably shorter, looking pitiful.
The Level 30 low-tier dungeon had only an 8-minute cooldown, but Fang Zheng needed nearly half an hour to recover from the emotional damage.
When he opened the group recruitment board a second time, his hand trembled as he sent join requests.
This time, the leader was a healer.
This time, the party had four healers =_=
[Party] Light’s Shadow: Welcome.
[Party] Mad Lad: Uh, thanks. Can I ask a question?
[Party] Light’s Shadow: ?
[Party] Mad Lad: Is this the actual dungeon lineup?
[Party] Light’s Shadow: Problem?
[Party] Mad Lad: You don’t see a problem?
[Party] Light’s Shadow: Haha, you think we have too many healers, right? Don’t worry, we’re all friends just messing around. If we can grind the boss down, great. If not, it’s just practice.
[Party] Mad Lad: Healer, hello.
[Party] Mad Lad: Healer, goodbye.
For his third group application, Fang Zheng was far more cautious. He scrutinized recruitment messages, avoiding anything like “Crush the Terracotta Warriors” or “Casual Pick-Up Group”. He also checked team comps—at least a tank, a healer, and DPS. An all-healer party was genuinely unbearable. After agonizing for a while, he finally picked a group that seemed halfway decent.
The party didn’t disappoint—they made it all the way to the final boss. But the healer was totally useless, completely unable to handle the boss’s Berserk Skill. A single AoE wiped three teammates, and before the healer could even finish reviving, the Blood Warrior went down. Well, no point reviving now—without a tank, a wipe was inevitable.
Fang Zheng had run countless pick-up groups and experienced wipes before. People said PUGs were unpredictable, and he’d seen that—but never this unpredictably in a single night!
Watching Mad Lad teeter on the edge of dropping back to Level 26, Fang Zheng wanted to claw the walls in frustration!
Then, a message popped up in World chat.
[Huaxia] Master Wuwei: Terracotta Warriors leveling group, 5/6, need an Assassin who can pull War Chariot.
Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes, unable to tell if this was an olive branch from heaven or a death trap from Satan.
[Huaxia] Phantom Diva: Terracotta Warriors leveling group, 5/6, need Assassin for War Chariot.
[Huaxia] Wu Next Door: Terracotta Warriors LF2LF = Looking For. Assassin, no newbies pls.
This was clearly a premade group. Fang Zheng didn’t even need to check the details to know—they were probably leveling together but could only gather five, hence needing an outsider, specifically an indispensable Assassin.
Please let this one be reliable.
With a lottery-ticket mentality, Fang Zheng sent a join request to Master Wuwei. After a while, the other side accepted.
Looking at the party status bar on his screen, Fang Zheng’s heart sank halfway.
The team composition was as follows:
Blesscaller — Master Wuwei
Blood Warrior — Wu Next Door
Demon Refiner — Phantom Diva
Zombie — Little Deadleaf
Spirit Master — Carved in Bone
The presence of a Zombie surprised Fang Zheng slightly—it seemed he’d been running into this class more often lately.
But right now, he was focused on a more pressing issue—
[Party] Mad Lad: No healer?
Fang Zheng had directed the question at leader Master Wuwei, but it was Wu Next Door who answered.
[Party] Wu Next Door: Leader, you’re being doubted~
The leader ignored the chatty member and replied directly to Fang Zheng—
[Party] Master Wuwei: It’s fine, Blesscaller is enough.
Blesscallers, abbreviated as “Bless,” were a support-healer hybrid, leaning more toward buffs—applying various blessings or debuffs, with some HP recovery on the side. But it wasn’t their main role.
In the past, Fang Zheng might’ve been reassured by the leader’s calm demeanor, but…
[Party] Mad Lad: You sure? I’ve already died twice in Terracotta tonight. Can’t take any more heartbreak.
[Party] Phantom Diva: Twice? From pulling the War Chariot?
[Party] Mad Lad: No =_=
[Party] Mad Lad: Wrongful deaths…
[Party] Master Wuwei: Assassin, as long as you can pull the chariot, you can AFK the rest. We’re all experienced here—no need to stress over a Level 30 dungeon.
He didn’t want to stress T_T
Either way, Master Wuwei’s composed tone convinced Fang Zheng, and the group soon arrived at the dungeon.
Loading in for the third time, Fang Zheng’s heart was as still as dead water.
First up, the Kneeling Archer.
While DPSing, Fang Zheng observed Master Wuwei, but the fight ended too quickly for him to glean much.
Next was the Spirit. Fang Zheng continued button-mashing unskillfully, and the fight was over in a flash.
Then came the War Chariot. Mad Lad smoothly pulled it into the chamber and proceeded to AFK shamelessly. Of course, AFKing was an art—not dealing damage was fine, dealing low damage was fine, but if you died from low DPS and made the party revive you, that was unforgivable. So while maneuvering Mad Lad to dodge skillfully, Fang Zheng kept an eye on his teammates’ HP bars.
Master Wuwei had every right to be confident.
As a Blesscaller—a secondary healer—he’d successfully replaced the main healer.
Not just the leader, but the whole team were clearly veterans. The dungeon’s second boss was helpless under their assault, and the abusers even had time to chat—
[Party] Wu Next Door: Damn, Assassin, you’re really taking the AFK seriously, huh?
[Party] Phantom Diva: Leave him alone. Plus, with his gear and weapon, does it even matter if he DPSes?
[Party] Wu Next Door: Fair. He’s just here for the chariot anyway.
[Party] Mad Lad: So now that I’ve pulled the chariot, you don’t love me anymore? >_<
[Party] Phantom Diva: =_=
[Party] Wu Next Door: ……
[Party] Mad Lad: First you call me sweetheart, now it’s “hey you” T_T
[Party] Wu Next Door: Jesus Christ, sis, spare me!
[Party] Carved in Bone: HAHAHAHA, Mad Lad, I’m with you!
Fang Zheng had finally found a glimmer of joy in this miserable night and was just about to deliver more melodramatic lines to extend the fun, when the leader, completely lacking in romance, shattered the wild trio’s dynamic.
[Party] Master Wuwei: Starting the General. Focus.
Only then did Fang Zheng notice the War Chariot had fallen. Clearly, this boss was a complete bust—no drops, or the system would’ve prompted rolls by now.
The final boss, the General, was in the chamber next door. After dropping that line, Master Wuwei took the lead in engaging.
Blood Warrior Wu Next Door quickly followed—after all, he was the official tank.
By the time Mad Lad arrived, the Qin General was already being taunted. Wu Next Door held aggro steadily while Master Wuwei stood nearby, tossing out buffs and minor heals, occasionally mixing in some curse-based attacks. This time, Fang Zheng didn’t dare AFK. He quietly flanked the boss, landed a Backstab, then positioned himself where the Blesscaller could easily heal him without obstructing others, and started DPSing.
The benefits of a skilled party were undeniable now. The main tank held aggro flawlessly, the Spirit Master dealt massive damage, the Demon Refiner’s summoned pet was ferocious, and the Blesscaller—well, turning a secondary healer into the team’s backbone spoke for itself. As for the Zombie… they were probably the weakest link here, with nothing noteworthy beyond their DPS. But the Zombie class’s design doomed their output to mediocrity.
Well, except for those who played it in bafflingly OP ways.
Fang Zheng’s mind drifted to that Birdy. Wonder what kind of shenanigans he’d pull in this dungeon?
Lost in thought, the Qin General’s HP hit the critical threshold.
The General’s pre-death Berserk Skill inflicted a confusion debuff, making affected players uncontrollable—like chickens with their heads cut off, running around wildly, pulling mobs and potentially causing aggro loss (for example, if the Blood Warrior ran too far and dropped the boss’s aggro). While this skill rarely caused wipes, experienced players would stop attacking and hide in nearby crevices before the cast finished.
Fang Zheng was no exception—the moment the boss began chanting, he expertly ducked into a crevice.
To his relief, his teammates knew the drill too. So when the boss unleashed its ultimate, no one got hit.
With the Berserk Skill dodged, the rest was a formality. As the Qin General collapsed, Fang Zheng suddenly shuddered, sensing a Yellow-tier drop.
For a low-level dungeon, Yellow-tier was the best reward—especially a Yellow-tier weapon.
And given how much he’d suffered tonight, if the drop wasn’t Assassin-usable, the heavens were truly blind.
[Party] Master Wuwei: [Dagger of Jing Ke]
The leader, who’d looted the boss, shared the spoils.
A Yellow-tier weapon! And an Assassin-exclusive dagger at that!
Fang Zheng’s grin stretched ear to ear. Heavens, I forgive you for tonight’s cruelty!
Master Wuwei clicked to pick it up, and the system immediately rolled the dice.
Non-dagger classes all passed, leaving Fang Zheng to roll without pressure—89 points.
Yawning, he prepared to welcome the dagger into his inventory when the system suddenly flashed two more lines—
Little Deadleaf rolled 99 points.
Little Deadleaf obtained [Dagger of Jing Ke].
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