Chapter 65: Addicted to Watching Others Play?

Upon hearing this, Fang Qi found it rather amusing. He had seen people get deeply engrossed in their own games, but he had never seen anyone get this worked up just watching someone else play.

"Boss! Monsters are rushing us!" While Fang Qi was distracted by the crowd behind him, a swarm of Sand Leapers suddenly came charging across the screen!

A gentle, honest-looking middle-aged mercenary was being chased by a massive swarm of Sand Leapers, running toward Fang Qi in a mad frenzy. Glancing over, Fang Qi saw that not only was he trailed by a horde of these bugs—each sturdier and bulkier than a grown man—but right in the middle was a Sand Leaper Elite, its body flashing with continuous bursts of lightning, entirely different in color from the rest!

"Hey! Master Employer! There are a lot of bugs here!" Over the mercenary's head floated a large, distinct name: Mishan.

In a flash, he bolted right behind Fang Qi.

Fang Qi's face twitched. "What kind of brain fart possessed me to hire this guy in the first place..."

Before the Sand Leapers could crash into his face, Fang Qi quickly took two steps back, toggled on his Concentration Aura, and began hurling Blessed Hammers like mad!

Sand Leapers were the kind of creatures that were fine if left alone, but once attacked, they would release a massive burst of Charged Bolts!

The moment the Sand Leapers rushed into the whirlwind formed by the countless Blessed Hammers Fang Qi had summoned, the screen instantly erupted into a blinding glare of lightning!

Fang Qi's face darkened, and he immediately started chugging health potions while making a frantic run for it!

"It's cleared just like that?!" The onlookers behind were completely stunned. A moment ago, there was still a massive swarm of Sand Leapers, and in the blink of an eye, the ground was littered with their corpses!

"Oh! I feel myself growing stronger!" It was only at this moment that the clearly leveled-up Old Man Mishan strolled up casually, delivering crazy finishing blows with one spear thrust per bug! He didn't even spare the boss!

"Boss, this mercenary is so awesome! Where did you hire him?"

"He knows how to pull aggro, and his damage is so high!"

"He can actually solo the boss directly?!"

Exclamations of surprise drifted over, one after another, from behind him.

Fang Qi’s face darkened once more. "Go to Act II, find Greiz, and ask him if Old Man Mishan is available."

"The mercenaries in Act II are actually this powerful?" Lan Yan and Nalan Mingxue were also watching from behind at this time. Lan Yan couldn't help but exclaim in wonder, "When we get to Act II, let's hire this one too!"

It was worth noting that the mercenaries in Act I were all rogues with thin health bars and low defense. Once ambushed, they were basically as good as dead. Therefore, most Act I players stopped hiring mercenaries altogether after reviving them a few times.

Who would have thought that Act II would feature such a powerful mercenary?!

"This mercenary is pretty good!" Lin Shao's eyes gleamed with excitement as he watched. "Tomorrow, when we start exploring new areas, we're definitely hiring this one!"

"We'll give it a try when the time comes!" Song Qingfeng said, eager to test it out.

The corners of Nalan Mingxue's mouth curved slightly, revealing an enigmatic expression. "We'll see when the time comes."

Fortunately, this was just a small interlude. Afterward, Old Man Mishan proved to be somewhat reliable, and Fang Qi fought his way all the way from the Claw Viper Temple to the Arcane Sanctuary!

"The boss's attack power is way too high!"

"Wherever he goes, everything dies in droves?!"

Everyone noticed that no matter where Fang Qi went, a sweep of Blessed Hammers would cause the monsters to collapse in droves, just like wheat before a scythe!

Even when encountering a boss, with Fang Qi employing a two-pronged attack using Blessed Hammers and his Crystal Sword, combined with the mercenary's furious stabbing, the boss generally couldn't hold out for very long!

An Cheng and his group had also arrived at the internet cafe once again. After settling the new friends he had brought along, he noticed how crowded this area was and quickly hurried over as well.

One look at Fang Qi's screen left him instantly dumbfounded. "Boss, how are you playing this? Is this how you kill monsters?!"

One had to know that even though he had now equipped a top-tier staff, his monster-killing speed wasn't nearly this ferocious!

After watching for a while, An Cheng realized that watching Fang Qi play the game was simply too satisfying; everything flowed as smoothly as water!

"It can actually be played like this?!" With this kind of speed, it was no wonder their levels were so far apart!

"Boss, how did you allocate your skill points?" On the screen, Fang Qi unleashed another circle of Blessed Hammers, causing even the Summoner to collapse. In the entire Act II, only the giant bug Duriel in Tal Rasha's Tomb remained as a solitary leader!

Nalan Mingxue finally noticed a few clues. She remembered clearly that Blessed Hammer dealt magic damage, yet among Fang Qi's equipment, there were only items that increased faster cast rate, with none that increased magic damage.

Nor did he have attributes that increased skill levels like An Cheng's staff.

Logically speaking, even if it was strong, that strength should only manifest in terms of defense.

"Skills?" Many people were still somewhat confused and looked at Nalan Mingxue in bewilderment.

Fang Qi opened his skill panel, and Nalan Mingxue quickly spotted Fang Qi's two most frequently used skills: Blessed Hammer at level 3, and Concentration Aura at level 3.

Right after, she saw the attributes of the Concentration Aura: When active, the aura increases the destructive power of you and your party, and reduces the chance of your attacks being interrupted.

Chance of uninterrupted attack +20 percent.

Damage +90 percent.

Everyone who saw this skill couldn't help but gasp in shock!

Once the aura was activated, everyone's damage would increase by 90%!

Wasn't this effectively doubling the entire group's damage?!

"No wonder the boss's mercenary has such high attack power?!"

"The skills for each class get more and more powerful later on...!"

"Does this attribute work for spell attacks as well?!" Elder Fu asked hastily.

With Fang Qi's Blessed Hammer dealing such high damage, could it be that the Concentration Aura also provided a bonus to a spell-damage skill like Blessed Hammer?

His party was made up entirely of mages! Meanwhile, the Necromancer's curses only worked on physical attacks, which made them virtually useless to these mages!

Therefore, a Necromancer offered no significant boost to their party.

But if the aura worked on spells...

Then when they reached level 18 and activated the aura, wouldn't An Cheng be able to instantly vaporize monsters?!

However, next, they saw Fang Qi shake his head. "Concentration Aura only has a bonus effect on one spell, Blessed Hammer. For instance, Holy Bolt and other spells receive no effect."

"It actually only works on a single skill, Blessed Hammer?!"

"There's actually such a specific detail?!"

Upon hearing Fang Qi's words, the crowd was shocked once again!

"So, pairing the Concentration Aura with Blessed Hammer while hiring a melee mercenary? When fighting high-health monsters, you can also combine it with your own weapon attacks for a two-pronged assault?!"

"Hiss—such a combination...!" The more the crowd thought about it, the more amazed they became!

"No wonder the boss didn't wait for the level 30 ultimate skill, Fist of the Heavens, but instead dumped points straight into Blessed Hammer..."

The charm of Diablo lay precisely in the wide variety of skills and equipment. Through different combinations, the exact same class could be played in entirely distinct styles!

Take the Paladin, for example. The class was clearly positioned as a warrior, but with Fang Qi's combination, he transformed into a heavy-armor-clad mage. Capable at both range and close quarters, he could tank bosses and kite enemies!

When faced with many monsters, he could use spells for area-of-effect damage, and when encountering a thick-skinned boss, he could unleash a dual onslaught of physical and magical attacks, completely overturning the definition of a warrior!

Most importantly, the damage was extraordinarily high!

"Allocating a skill tree actually involves so much knowledge?!"

"Watching the boss play for a while is simply more useful than this old man pondering over it for several nights!" Seeing Fang Qi's point allocation and combination, Nalan Hongwu couldn't help but reveal a look of deep thought.

Song Qingfeng, on the other hand, patted the chests of the two Paladins, Lin Shao and Li Ping. "Did you learn something? With the way you guys blindly allocate points, by the time you reach Act II, you might as well just let Old Man Mishan take charge while you follow behind as his lackeys, alright?"

Being used as typical negative examples, the two lowered their heads, their faces wearing expressions of having learned a valuable lesson.

Not just them, even Bai Lang and the others realized that if all skills followed this kind of style, then as long as the combination was good enough, they could probably unleash immense power even with mediocre equipment!

Of course, having good equipment would naturally be the icing on the cake.

Right at that moment, everyone watched as Fang Qi opened a portal, returned to the city, and logged out of the game.

"Boss? Why did you stop? Keep playing!" The crowd stood dazed, not only thoroughly entertained but having also learned so much that it was utterly impossible to tear themselves away.

Yet Fang Qi had simply quit on a whim, a move the crowd could hardly bear.

Fang Qi merely glanced at the time. "It is already midnight, why have you all not left yet?"

"It is midnight already?!" An Cheng froze, feeling as though he had only just arrived.

"No way?! So fast?!"

"How did none of us notice!"

"Ruined! Ruined! I still have to return to Yanhai City! How can it be midnight already!"

...

.