The person surrounded in the middle was a bit stronger than any of his attackers, but unfortunately, two fists are no match for four hands, and even a hero can't withstand being outnumbered. In just a short while, he was hacked to the ground by a flurry of blades.

After finishing off the besieged man, the others were stunned for a moment, then warily eyed the companions who had just fought alongside them. As each person stared at the others, they would occasionally glance at the corpse on the ground.

This standoff lasted for over ten minutes. The youngest man was the first to speak: “Let’s stop being so wary of each other. Didn’t we agree to take him out, get the manual, and all train together? Let’s find the manual first.”

An older man nodded and said, “That’s right, let’s find the manual first.”

The others nodded as well, but no one stepped forward to search for the so-called manual. Each was afraid of being stabbed in the back, but the allure of the manual kept them from leaving.

A beast’s roar echoed through the forest, and the faces of the wary group changed in unison. Only then did they remember they were in the terrifying Demon Realm Forest, where the high-level magical beasts roaming about were not something they could handle.

The young man who had spoken earlier suddenly looked in surprise toward Brian Carter's position. The others instinctively turned to look as well. Taking advantage of the distraction, the young man bent down, reached into the dead man’s arms, grabbed a yellowed book, and took off running.

The others realized they’d been tricked and hurriedly gave chase.

Perhaps the young man’s luck was truly bad—so focused on escaping, he didn’t watch his step and was tripped by a vine, falling to the ground. By the time he got up, the others had already caught up to him.

In the blink of an eye, former comrades became enemies. The five pursuers instantly hacked the young man to the ground. This time, the five didn’t bother with mutual wariness, or rather, one of them didn’t even give the others a chance to be wary—after felling the young man, he immediately attacked the companion beside him.

Under attack, the others also swung their weapons at each other. The only thought in their minds was that only by killing the others could they survive and obtain the manual.

Ironically, after the slaughter, the last survivor held the bloodstained yellow book, ignoring his own severe wounds, grinning foolishly at the manual.

Within seconds, the man who had obtained the book rolled his eyes, collapsed to the ground with a thud, and died as well.

Only then did Brian Carter climb down from the tree, walk over to the dead man, and pry the manual from the hand that still clutched it tightly in death, wanting to see what was so valuable that people would risk their lives for it.

“This is…” Brian Carter felt as if he’d been struck on the head when he saw the book’s title.

“Martial Battle Qi”—this was the worst cultivation technique in the fantasy world game, usually only used by newbie players who had just entered the game and were below level ten.

“This is just ridiculous! Fighting to the death over this piece of junk? Your lives really aren’t worth much.” Brian Carter muttered, shaking his head lightly.

“Piece of junk! You call this a piece of junk?” The man who had collapsed with his eyes rolled back, perhaps angered by Brian Carter’s words, suddenly came back to life, glaring fiercely at Brian Carter and shouting, “On the Sacred Origin Continent, there are three levels: Heaven, Earth, and Human! So many warriors and mages strive their whole lives and can’t even reach the Human level! Let alone Heaven or Earth! Back then, a genius expert used this very manual to successfully advance to Human Level, Second Rank! And you call it a piece of junk!”

“Is that so?” Brian Carter reached into his spatial bracelet, took out a wooden box, opened it, and pulled out ten copies of “Martial Battle Qi,” placing them in front of the man and saying seriously, “If I’d known you were fighting over this, I could have given each of you a copy and saved all this trouble.”

“One for each of us? ‘Martial Battle Qi’? How is that possible?” The dying man forced himself upright, snatched a copy from Brian Carter, and frantically flipped through it. The man who had just been so ferocious was instantly dumbfounded.

The next second, the man spat out a mouthful of blood toward the sky and shouted, “Why? How is this possible? I can’t die in peace…”

Chapter 3: This Is Just Too Ridiculous (Part 2)

Thud—the man’s legs kicked out and he fell backward, looking like he was about to die again.

Brian Carter had finally found a living person and didn’t want to miss this chance to learn about the world.

He hurriedly took out a small bottle of crystal healing potion from his spatial bracelet. Not caring whether it was meant to be taken orally, he pried open the man’s mouth and poured in half the bottle.

Within just a second, the man—whose face had been deathly pale and who seemed on the verge of meeting the King of Hell—began to regain color, his breathing grew long and steady again, and the knife wounds on his body rapidly healed.

Brian Carter let out a long sigh of relief, his anxious heart finally settling down. Carefully, he put the remaining half-bottle of crystal healing potion back into his spatial bracelet. Although there were still quite a few healing potions and other recovery items in the bracelet, knowing there was nowhere to replenish them and that every use meant one less, Brian Carter had no choice but to be frugal.