The Players and the Protagonist Want to Kill Me – Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Worthless System Has Stood Up

Suiwei returned to Winter Fort with a light and happy mood, and successfully completed the last villain’s daily mission.

It was a slave trader who was viciously beating his slaves. Although such things were common in this world, it didn’t mean Suiwei could tolerate it.

Thus, this person, for “disturbing public order” and “making too much noise while hitting people, disturbing the lord,” was crippled by the knights under Suiwei’s command. His slaves were also taken by Suiwei and arranged to be servants in the castle.

The worthless system didn’t require him to beat a specific kind of person, as long as they were townsfolk. This was the only mission Suiwei felt at peace with, and he didn’t even need to provide compensation.

…

“Now, let’s move on to the exciting reward segment!”

Suiwei excitedly rubbed his hands together and sat down properly at the long table in the dining hall, with roasted meat and red wine carefully prepared by the castle chef in front of him.

“System, I want my reward!”

Suiwei savored a mouthful of red wine with proud arrogance.

“Ding! Detected that the host has completed all daily missions. Do you wish to claim the reward?”

“Ah, yes, yes, yes!”

Suiwei heard a sound of a party popper firing in his mind, and then a virtual roulette wheel, adorned with red silk ribbons and cheap colored lights, popped out with a hop.

“Wow, it’s quite festive!”

Suiwei grinned.

This roulette wheel was divided into five equal sections: Unit Type, Martial Skill, Equipment, Potion, and Curious Item. It was a very traditional design.

Suiwei wasn’t particularly surprised, but he wasn’t too disappointed either. His expectations for the worthless system had been steadily decreasing.

Among these five types of rewards, Suiwei wanted Unit Type the most.

As a newly appointed lord, he was most in need of talent. Currently, having only Clemon was not enough to hold the fort.

Moreover, as long as he had enough subordinates, those players would never be able to touch him.

Next, he wanted Equipment. As for Martial Skills, Suiwei had no shortage.

His master was a Legendary Sword Saint, and the martial skills he was learning now were already among the top-tier.

He didn’t know what Curious Items were. Suiwei had never heard of such things when playing games in his previous life. Literally translated, they were strange things. Wasn’t having such a worthless system strange enough?

Potions were probably the most useless. In Suiwei’s opinion, any enhancement that couldn’t be permanently applied to oneself was as weak as a paper tiger.

“Here goes.”

Suiwei willed his intention onto the button in the center of the roulette wheel. The wheel spun rapidly, then slowed down, bypassing Martial Skill and Unit Type, and finally stopped slowly at the Equipment section.

“Not bad!”

Suiwei was a bit pleased, having drawn the second most desired item.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Fine Grade armor ‘Dragon Slayer Heavy Plate Armor’… Ding! Obtained a three-time critical hit chance. Critical hit successful… Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Hero-grade armor ‘Triumphant Paladin, Chapter Armor’.”

“Hmm, okay, okay… Wait a minute, you 250 system, what did you just say? Hero-grade?”

Suiwei made a tactical retreat, abruptly sitting up from his chair.

“Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Hero-grade armor ‘Triumphant Paladin, Chapter Armor.’ Do you wish to materialize it?”

“Materialize it, materialize it, hurry up and materialize it. I’ve never seen what Hero-grade armor looks like before!”

Suiwei was ecstatic in his heart. His master, the Legendary Sword Saint Zardin, only had one sword that reached Hero-grade; his armor was still Grandmaster-grade.

The skill of human craftsmen was limited; forging a Grandmaster-grade armor was already their limit. Equipment above Grandmaster-grade could only be made by Dwarf masters.

Furthermore, even if one managed to invite a Dwarf master, it was still very difficult to create Hero-grade equipment. It not only required sufficient materials but also favorable timing and circumstances.

As for Epic-grade and Legendary-grade equipment, which were above Hero-grade, he had rarely encountered any.

Under Suiwei’s expectant gaze, a set of extremely handsome and magnificent armor materialized on the dining table.

The armor was silvery-white throughout, accented with some gold. The joints of the armor were made of extremely tough soft gold, and the main body was made of the hardest dragon-patterned steel.

When Suiwei was studying at the Knight Academy, he had learned about this material. It was said that it could only be found in small quantities in the earth’s core or in dragon lairs.

Now, it was luxuriously used to create an entire set of armor.

The most striking feature was the chest plate, where at the heart protector, there was a golden dragon crystal the size of a human face.

Although the dragon crystal was processed into a flat shape, it was evident that it came from at least a mature Brass Dragon.

The dragon crystal was linked to the magic circuits on the armor, passively amplifying the wearer’s Qi and defense.

The wearer could also actively activate the magic circuits to create a protective shield to block attacks until the energy within the dragon crystal was depleted. Of course, there was an upper limit to this attack threshold.

Admittedly, this Hero-grade armor was among the top-tier compared to other Hero-grade equipment.

Simply put, the dragon-patterned steel required to make this armor was priceless, let alone the dragon crystal, which couldn’t be bought.

Suiwei eagerly put on the armor. The magic circuits were passively activated, and Suiwei felt a jolt of energy, a surge of power spreading from his chest to his entire body.

He had an illusion that with this armor, he might be able to fight Clemon on equal terms.

“System, you’re awesome, system, you’re really amazing. You’re no longer that idiotic system; you’ve stood up!”

“Ding! This system has no legs and cannot stand up.”

The system was still as dull as ever.

However, this was a good thing. The more dull the system was, the more loopholes he could exploit.

Suiwei gleefully pondered this as he retrieved his greatsword from the room.

He was already eager to spar with Clemon and test the quality of this armor.

…

“Young Master Suiwei, you were looking for this old servant?”

Clemon, clad in heavy knight’s armor, pushed open the door to the private training room. He had just been training the guards on the castle’s horse farm.

Winter Fort currently lacked defensive strength, and training more soldiers to serve as guards was the top priority.

Suiwei had been waiting in the training room for quite some time. This was his usual private training area.

In this room, which was much larger than the dining hall, there were some wooden stakes and weapon racks, but they were mostly for decoration.

What was truly useful were the obsidian plates embedded with elemental magic on the floor and walls. These plates were not only extremely hard but also had good toughness. Their drawback was poor energy conductivity, making them suitable only for crafting weapons below Fine Grade.

“Clemon, I’ve acquired a pretty good set of armor. Let’s spar to test it out.”

Suiwei turned around and said with a smile.

The dragon crystal on his chest plate gleamed, making it impossible not to focus attention on it.

Clemon looked at Suiwei’s armor with surprise. He was also a man of discerning taste and could tell that this armor was no ordinary item.

“Young Master Suiwei, this armor of yours cannot simply be described as ‘pretty good’.”

Clemon said with a hint of envy.

Armor, long swords, and lances were companions for knights throughout their lives, arguably closer than their bedside companions.

All knights were enthusiastic about better armor and weapons, and Clemon was no exception.

“In that case, this old servant will help you test this new armor.”

With that, Clemon made an inviting gesture to Suiwei. The two walked to the center of the field, placed one hand on their chests, and bowed slightly.

Then, Clemon raised his head, drew the long sword at his waist, pointed the tip forward, and his aura suddenly deepened. He transformed from a spirited old man into a beast lurking in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, ready to devour anyone.

Suiwei secretly praised him in his heart, truly worthy of being the man who single-handedly held back the Fourth Catastrophe for over two months.

This fierce killing intent and majestic aura made him, a Great Knight himself, feel horrified.

However, Suiwei was not the same worthless lord from the game. He was far superior to that trash who only knew fast swordplay and pursued flashy moves.

He learned his master’s renowned sword style, a greatsword without edge, the ultimate in simplicity. It was a domineering style that, though simple and unadorned, crushed everything.

Suiwei gripped the greatsword with both hands, his gaze calm, his eyes like stars. His entire being seemed to merge with the surrounding environment.

Under the enhancement of the Hero-grade armor, his aura was like a majestic Brass Dragon roaring behind him, exuding a sense of crushing all, making even the air feel stagnant.

“Hah—”

Clemon took a step forward, launching the first attack. His long sword thrust forward with a “hiss” sound, accompanied by a flash of crimson sword light, darting out like a poisonous dragon.

Suiwei raised his sword to block, using both arms to push away Clemon’s single-handed sword, then gripping the sword with both hands and thrusting it forward with his elbow.

“Roar—”

The powerful greatsword, accompanied by a ferocious lion-like phantom, swung down onto the raised long sword.

The terrifying force stirred up waves of energy, causing the obsidian floor beneath the old knight’s feet to crack.

Facing Suiwei’s fierce onslaught, Clemon sidestepped to the right, using the force to retreat and dodge. In a flash, his long sword thrust out again, the crimson sword light like a crescent moon.

The two traded blows, maneuvering and evading. Their movements were so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

“Clang, clang, clang!” The sounds of weapons clashing were incessant. Gold and crimson sword energy intertwined. Within a few breaths, they had exchanged dozens of blows.

After a hundred moves, the two were still locked in a fierce battle.

But Suiwei voluntarily withdrew from the fight, as there was no point in continuing. It would merely come down to who had better stamina.

This was a pure confrontation of swordsmanship and momentum. Neither of them had used Qi, otherwise, Winter Fort might have been reduced to ruins.

“Young Master Suiwei, after putting on this armor, you are like a Brass Dragon. This old servant cannot even scratch you without using Qi.”

Clemon said with a helpless wry smile.

His swordsmanship came from battlefield slaughter and was known for its ferocity and sharpness. Yet, he had no good answer for Suiwei. This armor perfectly complemented Suiwei’s sword technique of breaking skill with force.

“You were holding back, and besides, relying on equipment is ultimately not as good as relying on oneself.”

Suiwei was not being falsely humble. Clemon’s strength was unquestionable.

After sparring with Clemon, he was even more satisfied with this armor that maximized defense.

As a cautious individual, Suiwei always believed in one principle: only by staying alive could one deal damage. If one died, nothing else mattered.

…

At night, Suiwei, in his sleep, suddenly had a smug smile on his face.

Because he had a dream. In the dream, he was being attacked by a group of players, but these players could never break through his defense…

Clemon AI Synthesis

…

Here’s a brief explanation of the weapon and armor settings.

Weapon rarity represents the strength of a weapon. The higher the rarity of weapons and armor, the higher their durability and strength.

For example, if a Fine Grade weapon clashes with a common weapon, the common weapon will break.

This does not mean that higher rarity weapons do not have special abilities. They do, but they are not exaggerated. The same applies to armor.

Equipment is ultimately an external object, and its enhancement is limited, unlike powerful magical artifacts.