Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Time slipped quietly through the gaps between fingers, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

On the broad riverbank in the eastern part of Copper Creek Forest, a faint fishy smell lingered in the air.

The once pristine white pebble shore now looked somewhat messy, with scattered remains of Stone-Shell River Crabs lying all over the ground.

At the center of the corpses, Lance held a chipped shortsword, his expression calm as he walked forward.

In his field of vision ahead, more than twenty large Stone-Shell River Crabs were waving their massive claws, attempting to block the intruder’s advance.

After several days of intense real combat, Lance had undergone a drastic transformation.

The visible rate of his progress was so astonishing that even Cecilia, who was providing support from the rear, found it unbelievable.

A particularly large Stone-Shell River Crab took the initiative, its thick hind legs stomping hard against the ground as it launched its signature skill [Heavy Thrust].

Facing this strike that could pierce leather armor—

Lance showed no intention of dodging.He merely sank his shoulder slightly, raising the kite shield on his left arm in an instant, precisely positioning it along the attack trajectory.

“Clang!”

The sharp claw slammed heavily into the center of the shield. Metal trembled, and a burst of sparks scattered across its surface.

At the moment of impact, Lance let out a low shout. The muscles in his left arm bulged as he seized the moment when the opponent’s old force had not yet dissipated, forcefully pushing upward.

The heavy crab was directly flipped over by the tremendous force, exposing its soft abdomen.

One strike—instant kill.

Lance did not even glance at it. He kicked the heavy corpse to the right.

The rolling body crashed into and halted a second crab attempting to flank from the side.

At that moment, the ground ahead was suddenly covered with a layer of shimmering, rainbow-reflecting viscous liquid.

Cecilia’s support had arrived.

In just a few days, the two had developed a combat synergy that seemed to require no words.

The two crabs that had just stepped into the area instantly lost traction with their segmented legs.

Their sharp limbs slipped chaotically across the smooth pebbles, and the massive bodies lost balance, toppling clumsily to either side, exposing their pale and fragile underbellies.

Lance strode forward, planting his right foot heavily onto one crab’s chest shell. Without hesitation, his shortsword plunged downward, piercing through the gap-ridden abdomen.

At the same time, a crab that slipped through the net leapt over its companion’s corpse, its massive claw thrusting viciously toward Lance’s knee.

“Whoosh!”

A pale blue beam shot through the air.

The beam struck the crab precisely.

Frost spread instantly, completely freezing the semi-transparent joint membrane.

Lance pressed down with his left arm, the sharp metal edge of the kite shield smashing fiercely into the frozen joint.

With a crisp crack, the ice shattered, and the deadly claw broke cleanly into two pieces.

Immediately after, a downward thrust from the shortsword pierced straight through its mouthparts.

Yet these monsters clearly did not possess fear.

Three more crabs gathered simultaneously, forming a triangular formation that blocked Lance’s retreat routes on both sides.

Before they could complete the encirclement—

A fan-shaped burst of intense light exploded from above, its blinding brightness instantly covering the frontal vision of the three crabs.

Seizing the moment of blindness and stiffness, Lance advanced like a phantom, swiftly killing all three.

However, when piercing through the final crab’s hard shell, the already overburdened shortsword in his hand let out a wail. The blade curled and chipped, breaking into several large notches.

Lance did not even frown. He casually discarded the ruined weapon.

The violent Magic-Body Techniques of Azure Dragon Ultimate Style flashed rapidly through his mind.

A Stone-Shell River Crab lurking nearby seized the opening when Lance discarded his sword, launching a Heavy Thrust, its sharp claw aimed straight at Lance’s face.

Lance stood still. Only when the gust of force reached him did he tilt his head slightly to the right.

The claw brushed past his ear, missing by a hair.

In the next instant, his right foot stomped violently onto the ground. The pebbles beneath shattered instantly, fragments scattering.

Using the immense reactive force from the ground, Lance’s body shot forward like a cannonball, cutting into the crab’s blind spot.

His right elbow rose high, carrying the downward momentum of his entire body, smashing fiercely into the center of the crab’s back shell.

[Azure Dragon Ultimate Style · Dragon Horn Strike]

[Effect: Unarmed Weight +4, Attack Part Hardness +2]

Crack!

The extremely hard back shell instantly caved in and shattered, murky internal fluids spraying out from the rupture.

At this moment, another crab launched a pincer attack from the left blind spot.

Instead of retreating, Lance advanced. His waist and abdominal muscles twisted violently as his left foot stepped diagonally forward, firmly wedging beneath the crab’s base.

His left shoulder braced against the kite shield, pressing his entire body weight onto it. Like an out-of-control war chariot, he slammed directly into the front of the crab’s body.

[Azure Dragon Ultimate Style · Dragon Tail Cannon]

[Effect: Strength Check +4, Blunt Impact Force +5]

The dull impact sound made one’s chest tremble.

The several-hundred-pound crab was actually knocked backward off the ground by this strike, flying into a half-man-high rock behind it.

Its back shell caved under the immense pressure, and it collapsed limply to the ground.

At this point, Lance no longer needed to carefully dodge or painstakingly devise tactics like he had at the beginning.

Relying purely on his powerful combat instincts and attribute suppression, he was overwhelmingly crushing these monsters in a one-sided manner.

This composure came not only from the massive damage caused by the upgraded Azure Dragon Ultimate Style stacking Weakness Insight—

But more so from the near-instinctive reactions formed after “memorizing patterns” of monster behavior as an experienced player.

Especially for low-tier monsters like Stone-Shell River Crabs, which had simple attack methods.

The current Lance was even willing to call them “beginner mobs.”

This was not an exaggeration.

When one had killed over a hundred of the same monsters within three days, to the point of knowing which leg they would lift next even with eyes closed, one would naturally develop this dull yet confident feeling.

Lance casually shook off the filthy blood on his shield and took a moment to glance at the Biological Research panel on his retina.

[Current Research Progress: LV3 (96/100)]

Only four left.

As long as he finished these, he would be able to extract that highly anticipated racial talent.

Before this, upon reaching LV2, the system had granted the reward [Map Marking Function].

This function was extremely powerful.

Now, as long as he approached within a certain range, all Stone-Shell River Crabs in his field of vision would be directly marked with highlighted red dots—even those hiding in the sand.

It was like having wallhacks in a shooting game.

For Lance, being ambushed by these clumsy crabs was no longer a possibility in this world.